April 10, 2000

LUBBOCK, Texas - Fresh off a weekend sweep of the Kansas Jayhawks, the Texas Tech fastpitch softball team returns to home action tomorrow afternoon when the Texas Longhorns invade Lubbock for a doubleheader. The first game is scheduled to begin at 2 p.m. at the Texas Tech Recreational Intramural Fields.

The defending Big 12 tournament champion, Texas comes into the game with a record of 20-21-1 and a conference record of 5-3.

Texas is one of the best hitting teams in the conference, sporting an overall team batting average of .260. Freshman infielder Lindsay Gardner leads the team with a .386 batting average. Charla Moore is one of the conference's most dominating pitchers. She currently owns a 14-11 record and a 1.70 ERA.

Texas Tech will counter the Longhorn hitting with solid pitching. Amanda Renfro, an All-American candidate, is the staff ace, sporting a league leading 1.15 ERA (0.56 in Big 12 play) and a record of 11-15. Renfro has thrown four no-hit ballgames this season including one Sunday against Kansas, a 1-0 Tech victory.

The Red Raiders have the lowest batting average of any Big 12 team (.208) but has been a much better hitting team in conference play. In its Big 12 games, Tech has a .263 batting average, ranking them fifth in the conference.

"These are huge games for us," Tech interim head coach Carla Marchetti said. "As it is, the sweep this past weekend gave us a huge boost. If we can get another sweep at home we will be back near the top of the standings in the conference."

The two teams met earlier this season at the Paradise Classic Tournament in Hawaii. Renfro pitched a one-hit, 13-strikeout masterpiece to give Tech a 4-0 win.