ANDERSON, S.C. - The Anderson University softball team, which is ranked 23rd in he nation in the latest in the latest National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA) Division II Poll, is set to open a season-high six-game road trip with a South Atlantic Conference twin bill at Tusculum on Tuesday. First-pitch versus Pioneers at Red Edmonds Field is set for 2 p.m.

The Trojans
Anderson (25-7, 8-2 SAC) is currently tied with Carson-Newman atop the early conference standings and won 10 of its last 12 contests after sweeping preseason league favorite Wingate over the weekend.

Junior Molly Child was 3-for-7 with a single and a home run in the doubleheader, including a including a walk-off single with one out in the bottom of the eighth inning to give AU the 6-5 win in eight innings. Senior Jessica Neidigh was 4-for-8 with a double and a pair of RBI, while driving in the go-ahead run in the bottom of the sixth inning of the second game. Freshman Carli Hurtado was 2-for-6 with a pair of infield singles in the opener, while sophomore Courtney Czentnar was 3-for-7.

The Trojans are 16th in the nation by averaging 1.19 home runs per contest and rank 24th with more than six runs per game. AU is 23rd nationally with a slugging percentage of .519 and 28th in on-base percentage (.413). The pitching staff is 27th in the nation with a 2.11 ERA.

Freshman Cailah Niles continues to lead the league and is tied for fourth in the country with 13 home runs and ranks fourth nationally with 46 RBI. The Phenix City, Ala., native leads the Trojans and is fifth in the league with a .423 batting average and second in the SAC with her .856 slugging percentage, while ranking fifth in the nation with 0.43 homers per game. Neidigh enters the week with a team-high 12-game hitting streak and has reached base in 23 straight contests while hitting .414 on the season. She leads the SAC with 36 runs scored and is third in the league with 46 hits on the season. The second baseman is also third in triples (3), home runs (9), RBI (36) and total bases (86).

Child is hitting .350 on the season and is tied for fourth in the league with a team-high nine doubles on the season. The LaGrange, Ga. native is second on the team with 27 runs scored and third in slugging percentage (.553) and hits with 36. Child is fourth on the team with 20 RBI. Czentnar is hitting a season-high .340 on the strength of a 10-game hitting streak and has recorded multi-hit games in seven of AU's last 10 contests. Freshman Chelsea Jones is hitting .330 on the season and ranks fifth in the league with 18 walks on the year.

Jones and sophomore Lauren Rudesheim lead the Trojans with nine wins apiece, with Jones ranking sixth in the SAC with a 1.95 ERA. The hard-throwing right-hander has fanned 68 batters in 68 1/3 innings, while leading the league's starting pitchers by issuing just seven free passes on the year. Jones also has two complete games and four saves in 17 appearances. Rudesheim has tossed three shutouts and eight complete games in 21 appearances, while also collecting one save on the year.

The Pioneers
Tusculum (14-14, 4-6 SAC) was a preseason pick to finish fourth - tied with Carson-Newman - in the South Atlantic Conference in a poll of the league's coaches after finishing fourth in last season's conference standings with a 31-24 overall record and a 14-8 mark in the SAC.

Tusculum is 8-6 at home this season, while dropping three of its last four decisions overall. The Pioneers were swept three days ago at Catawba, while previously splitting league doubleheaders with Brevard and Queens.

TC senior shortstop Kaytlin Stroinski and junior outfielder Carolyn Williamson were named to the preseason All-SAC squad. Stroinski was chosen as the All-SAC first-team shortstop after leading the team last season with a .384 on base percentage and a .299 batting average. The two-time All-Conference selection tallied 46 hits, which included a team-high 14 doubles, six homers, and three triples. She compiled a team-best 33 RBIs and 17 walks while going 10-for-13 in stolen base attempts.

Williamson was selected as one of the three All-SAC second-team outfielders after totaling a team-high 50 hits while appearing and starting 53 games last season. She compiled a .291 batting average with four doubles and a team high five triples while driving in 13 runs and scoring 26.

Stroinski was named the Tennessee Sports Writers Association Softball Player of the Week on March 17, after batting .467 (7-for-15) in six contests during the prior week. She posted a double, a triple, one home run, six RBIs and seven runs scored.

The Howell, Mich., native doubled, scored three times and drove in a pair of runs in the first game of a doubleheader against UVa-Wise and collected two hits with one RBI and a run scored in the second contest versus the Cavs helping TC secure a doubleheader sweep. Stroinski went 2-for-4 with two RBIs in the first of two contests against Lander and tripled, homered, stole a base and scored three times in the second game. She also reached base three times on walks and stole a base in the twin bill against then-19th-ranked Wingate.

Williamson (.398) and Stroinski (.369) lead a trio of Tusculum hitters that are hitting over .300 on the season, with Williamson ranking 10th in the conference. Stroinski has slammed six home runs, with sophomore Treslyn Reese belting a team-high seven homers and hitting .338. Sophomore right-hander Eliza Davis leads the Wingate pitching staff with an 8-5 record on the season and is sixth in the league with 11 complete games.

As a team, Tusculum ranks third in the conference with six triples on the season and has belted 29 home runs, which stands fourth in the league.

The Series vs. Tusculum
The Trojans and Pioneers have met 13 times in a series that dates back to the 2004 season, with Tusculum owning a 9-6 advantage in the overall series. The two teams have traded regular-season sweeps since the Trojans joined the South Atlantic Conference for the 2011 campaign, with the Pioneers taking the 2011 doubleheader. The Trojans answered by taking the 2012 twin bill, with the Pioneers claiming the 2013 seasons' doubleheader. Anderson countered by sweeping last year's twin bill at Smethers Field.

The Pioneers won five of the first seven meetings from 2004-07, then the series lapsed for four years, before resuming during the 2011 campaign.

In last year's doubleheader, former Trojan standout and current assistant coach Danielle Swygert's one-out walk-off grand slam propelled AU to a 6-3 victory in the opener, while timely hitting lifted the Trojans to a 4-2 win in the nightcap. Then-senior Abby Child was 2-for-4, with a pair of RBI-singles and crossed the plate once, with Neidigh adding two singles in four trips to the plate. Child was a perfect 3-for-3 in the nightcap, notching three singles, a run scored and an RBI, with Martin adding a pair of singles in three at-bats.