The Butler softball team will look to continue a strong start to the conference season this weekend as they travel to St. John's to take on the Red Storm. The two teams will play a doubleheader on Saturday starting at noon and a single game on Sunday with a noon first pitch.
The Bulldogs have taken two out of three in each of the two conference series that they have played in thus far and sit with an overall record of 21-14.
The Bulldogs were scheduled to play Thursday, finishing a game with IUPUI that was previously suspended on March 30. However, that contest has been postponed again with today's weather forecast. No date has been scheduled at this time.
St. John's currently sits at 16-16 on the season with a 2-4 conference record. They are led in part by Krystal Puga, whose five home runs are tied for fourth in the BIG EAST.
The Bulldogs are led by the BIG EAST's conference leader in earned run average. The 1.47 ERA by
Kristin Gutierrez is more than a run better than anyone else in the conference. Opposing hitters are hitting just .197 off of the senior, which is also good for the conference lead.
Offensively, Maggie MacBeth sits atop the BIG EAST leaderboard in runs scored with 35 and hits with 47. The Bulldogs also feature the conference leader in runs batted in with Kaitlin Doud at 34 RBIs.
The Bulldogs' 21 wins are good enough for first in the conference. Butler also has a team ERA of 3.41, the best in the BIG EAST.
Butler had two players named to the BIG EAST weekly honor roll this past week. Gutierrez went 2-0 against Providence last week with a 0.54 ERA in that series. The other to receive the distinction was sophomore outfielder Sarah Dixon. Dixon batted .600 during the Providence series and hit three doubles while driving in four runs.
The Bulldogs are on the road until their final home BIG EAST series of the 2016 season, hosting Creighton in Indianapolis April 23-24.
