WICHITA, Kan. – The Wichita State softball team will look to add to its 4-0 start of the 2014 season when it heads to San Antonio, Texas Fri., Feb. 14 for the UT-San Antonio Classic. The Shockers are scheduled to play a pair of games Friday beginning with a 11:30 a.m. contest against Rutgers followed by a game against tournament host UT-San Antonio at 7 p.m.

Action will continue with another pair of games Saturday when Wichita State will take on Big 12 member Oklahoma State at 9 a.m. followed immediately after by a 11 a.m. game against Colorado State. Information on the tournament, as well as live stats for each game can be found at http://www.goutsa.com/ViewArticle.dbml?ATCLID=206348363.

This past weekend, the Shockers got their season underway at the Lady Techster Invitational in Ruston, La., where they went a perfect 4-0. Freshman Paige Luellen led the way for Wichita State, being named to the Lady Techster Invitational All-Tournament team after hitting .583 in 12 at-bats over the weekend with two doubles, a home run and nine RBIs. Freshman Kelli Spring was also named to the All-Tournament team, hitting .500 in 14 at-bats with seven hits.

Senior Sloan Anderson was a force for the Shockers on the mound, striking out 12 batters in 14.2 innings and posting a 4.91 ERA over the weekend. Freshman Jenni Brooks made her debut on the mound against UT-Martin, striking out two and allowing seven hits, three runs and a walk in three innings before recording her first save in the next game against Louisiana Tech. Freshman Katie Malone saw action for the first time in a Wichita State uniform against Louisiana Tech, striking out four in 3.2 innings. Malone started against Saint Louis on Sunday, pitching a complete game, only allowing four hits and striking out three to give the Shockers their fourth consecutive win.

After an action-packed weekend, head coach Kristi Bredbenner is looking forward to getting back on the field and continuing the momentum her team built in Ruston, La., but knows it is going to be a challenging weekend. Bredbenner hopes to keep her team focused on playing on game at a time in order to keep progressing. a

“Obviously I think this weekend is going to be a little bit more challenging,” coach Bredbenner said. “Colorado State and Oklahoma State are both great programs, Rutgers had a great year last season and UTSA with a new coach, you never really know what you're going to get.  However, this weekend is new for everybody; it was great that we went 4-0 last weekend but this is a new weekend so we have to come out and compete and start the tournament off right against the Rutgers Friday morning and take it one game at a time after that. I definitely think we are going to have to continue to step up our game every weekend, which is the plan, and keep getting better.”

-WICHITA STATE-