March 2, 2000

LUBBOCK, Texas - The Red Raiders fastpitch softball team travels to Corpus Christi this weekend looking to start a winning streak. Tech(4-14) will compete in the first annual "Bash by the Bay" Softball Tournament, hosted by Texas A&M-Corpus Christi. The tourney features teams from Evansville and Missouri-Kansas City as well as the host school.

Action starts Friday when the Red Raiders play TAMU-CC at 10 a.m. The Red Raiders are in action again on Saturday when they face UMKC at 9 a.m. and Evansville at 3 p.m. The tournament championship game will be played Sunday at noon.

For Tech it will be the first tournament of the year in which they won't face a nationally ranked opponent. Of the 14 teams Tech ahs faced this season, 10 of them are ranked in the NFCA top 25 or received votes in the poll.

"It will be the first time we haven't faced a ranked opponent," interim head coach Carla Marchetti said. "We'll still have to play good softball to beat these teams because they are good programs. Hopefully we can put a few "W's" up. I was pleased with the way we played last weekend, we just didn't get all the wins we wanted. We cut down our errors and started to hit the ball better. If we can continue to improve we will be okay."

The Raiders will be led by junior pitcher Amanda Renfro who is 2-7 on the season with a 1.20 ERA. At the plate, junior Shauna Briggs leads the Raiders with a .265 batting average and 11 RBI.