Sophomore slugger Abby Mallo leads Saint Louis with 10 home runs. (Photo: Thomas Grove)
Nora Nichols
Staff Writer
ST. LOUIS, MO — The two best teams in Atlantic 10 Conference softball will meet in a big time battle this weekend at the Billiken Sports Complex.
The Saint Louis University Billikens will host the Dayton Flyers in the final regular set for both teams, with the winner of the series taking home in the Atlantic 10 regular season championship.
Actually, Dayton only needs to win one game to claim the title. The Flyers are 16-6 in league play and the Billikens are 15-8. So Saint Louis needs to win all three games to grab the title.
The two teams have battled back and forth for the top spot in the standings all year, but Dayton’s incredible run through April, in which the Flyers won 11 games total and eight straight at one point, sent the Flyers into first place.
SLU was also really good in April. The Billikens won 10 of 15 games, but it is that one loss that has Saint Louis a half-game behind Dayton in the standings.
The teams will play three games in St. Louis this weekend, ahead of next of next week’s conference tournament, which will be played in the Bronx, N.Y., at Fordham’s Bahoshy Field.
The Billikens and Flyers will play a doubleheader, beginning at noon on Saturday. They’ll then conclude the regular season with a single game at noon on Sunday.
The winner of the A-10 regular season title will be the No. 1 seed in the conference tournament. The other team will likely be the No. 2 seed.
Loyola-Chicago and Fordham are tied for third place in the standings. They will play each other this weekend as well, and if the winner of that series won all three games and the loser of the SLU-Dayton series lost all three games, the Loyola-Fordham winner would sneak into second place in the A-10 standings.
It should be an interesting final regular season weekend for the A-10’s top clubs. And it’s likely to only get better when the A-10 Championships begin next weekend.
In the SLU-Dayton series, the Billikens will bring the best hitting club in the conference, while Dayton features the best pitching.
Saint Louis leads the conference in batting average (.292), runs scored (239), and home runs (34). Dayton’s pitchers lead the league in ERA (2.64), wins (29), shutouts (11), and least runs allowed (120).
SLU’s top players includes leading hitters Abby Ulsas (.362 ba) and Cami Newbanks (.356 ba, 7 HR, 42 RBI), slugger Abby Mallo (10 HR, 28 RBI), and pitchers Taylor Hockman (14-8, 2.38 ERA) and Isabel Royle (12-5, 2.72 ERA).
SAINT LOUIS BILLIKENS 2024 SOFTBALL SCHEDULE
| Date | Time | At | Opponent | Location |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 4, 2024 (Saturday) | 12 pm | Home | Dayton | Billiken Sports Complex |
| May 4, 2024 (Saturday) | 2 pm | Home | Dayton | Billiken Sports Complex |
| May 5, 2024 (Sunday) | 12 pm | Home | Dayton | Billiken Sports Complex |
| May 8-11, 2024 (Wednesday-Sunday) | TBA | Neutral | Atlantic 10 Championship | Bronx, N.Y. (Bahoshy Field) |