Tide among national leaders statistics

From staff reports

BIRMINGHAM | The second-ranked University of Alabama softball team will bring more than a 10-game winning streak into tonight's game at Samford. The Crimson Tide will also take some of the nation's most impressive statistics into the contest.

Alabama (31-3) is ranked in the top five nationally in six categories in team stats and also has several players ranked among the nation's leaders.

The Tide is ranked first in stolen bases at 2.8 per game, third in batting average (.344), slugging percentage (.575) and doubles at two per game. Alabama also ranks fourth in winning percentage (91 percent) and scoring (7.43 runs per game).

Additionally, Alabama ranks sixth in home runs (1.2 per game), 21st in fielding percentage (.974) and 31st in earned run average (1.63) in the team ratings released by the NCAA.

Individually, junior center fielder Brittany Rogers leads the nation in stolen bases (1.17 per game) and junior second baseman Lauren Parker ranks as the nation's toughest player to strike out, with one in 61 at-bats (prior to last weekend's two strikeouts, which came after the latest reporting period for NCAA stats).

Rogers also ranks second nationally in batting average (.495), second in runs per game (1.4) and fifth in on-base percentage (.560). Parker is 52nd in batting average (.406), 67th in home runs per game (.24) and 18th in RBIs (1.08).

Other UA players ranked high among the national leaders are sophomore first baseman/pitcher Charlotte Morgan, who is fourth in RBIs at 1.28 per game, senior first baseman/outfielder Dani Woods, sixth in walks (.89 per game) and senior pitcher Chrissy Owens, who ranks sixth in saves with four.

Alabama holds a 13-2 all-time edge in the series with the Bulldogs, with both losses coming in 1997, the first year of the UA program. The Tide defeated Samford 8-1 last year in Birmingham in the most recent meeting between the schools.