CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- The Lady Railsplitters (17-22, 5-7 SAC) begin the home stretch of the 2016 season on Saturday afternoon, when they travel to Charlotte, North Carolina for a South Atlantic Conference doubleheader against the surprising Queens Royals (18-19, 7-5 SAC), with first pitch in that twinbill scheduled for 1 p.m. Here's everything you need to know:
 
Schedule/Game Day Links:
 
Saturday, April 9 at Queens - Doubleheader at 1 p.m. Live Stats
 
Quick Hits:
-The Lady Railsplitters split a SAC doubleheader with the Brevard Tornados on Monday in Brevard, North Carolina. Lincoln Memorial left seven runners stranded on base and produced just five hits in a 2-1 extra-innings loss in game one before racking up a season-high 16 hits in a 14-1 five-inning win in game two. The 16 hits were the most for the Lady Railsplitters since matching that mark at Carson-Newman in March of 2013, while the 14 runs tied the season-high number set against Bowie State on March 11. With the split, Lincoln Memorial moved to 5-7 in SAC play to hold a share of seventh place in the league standings.
-Senior Samantha Smith (Knoxville, Tenn.) entered the 2016 campaign with just 10 combined hits without a home run in 52 career at-bats. Before Monday's doubleheader, she was 0 for 2 this season with a strikeout. But in game two of the Brevard series, Smith went 2 for 3 with a pair of solo home runs to play a key role in the Lady Railsplitters' offensive explosion. Eleven different players have now hit home runs for the Lady Railsplitters, who have hit a SAC-leading 12 home runs in conference play alone. Lincoln Memorial has hit 25 homers as a team, which is tied for the 13th-most in program history.
-Junior BriAnna Schrimpf (Chandler, Ariz.) continues to rake for the Lady Railsplitters this season, as she has hit safely in six of her last eight games. The corner infielder went 3 for 6 in the Brevard series with a double and an RBI. Schrimpf is batting .313 with eight doubles, two home runs and 15 RBI, which is fourth on the team behind Allie Jones (Ooltewah, Tenn.), Jennifer Moose (Statesville, N.C.) and Savannah Couch (Colonial Heights, Va.). Jones leads the team with 25 runs batted in.
-LMU head coach Natalie Layden is quickly approaching a career milestone, as the fifth-year coach needs three wins to collect career victory No. 100. Layden is 97-85 in her tenure with the Lady Railsplitters with a pair of 25-win campaigns under her belt. With a win or a split on Saturday, she will have a chance to earn that win at home against Lincoln Memorial's arch-rivals, as the Lady Railsplitters host Carson-Newman next Tuesday at Dorothy Neely Field.
-Sophomore right-hander Brianna Taylor (Ooltewah, Tenn.) is one of just 10 pitchers in the SAC with at least 10 wins this season, as she is tied for eighth in the league in that department with exactly 10. Taylor has been a workhouse for the Lady Railsplitters, ranking fourth in the conference in total innigns pitched with 129 2/3. Her 74 strikeouts are the 10th-most in the SAC.
 
Notes on the Royals:
-The Royals finished in 11th place in the SAC last season with a 12-33 overall record and a 6-16 conference mark. They weren't expected to improve much beyond that in 2016, as Queens was picked 11th out of 12 teams in the preseason SAC coaches poll. But with less than a month left in the regular season, the Royals are tied for fourth place in the league with a 7-5 mark. Queens enters Saturday's doubleheader having won seven of its last 10 games after splitting a pair of extra-inning games with Newberry on Tuesday. Prior to that, the Royals split series with both Anderson and Wingate.
-Despite the improved play and with a record hovering around .500, the Royals are a mediocre offense that ranks either ninth or 10th in the SAC in batting average (.274), on-base percentage (.335) and slugging percentage (.378). Queens has accounted for just 12 home runs this season, ranking 10th in the league in that department.
-Seniors Taylor Rosenbalm and Lyndey McCurry have carried the torch for the Royals offensively this season. Rosenbalm is hitting .371 with 11 doubles, two home runs, 14 RBI and 10 stolen bases, while McCurry is sitting right at .300 with nine doubles, a home run and 15 RBI. Sophomore Ashton Whitaker leads the team in RBI with 20, while Elaina Frantellizzi is hitting .347 with seven doubles and a pair of home runs. Senior Samantha Martinez is hitting just .234 but is dangerous once she gets on base, as she is tied for the team lead with 10 steals.
-The Royals haven't been particularly great on the mound this season, either, ranking 10th in the SAC with a 4.08 earned run average and a .300 batting average against. Three different pitchers have thrown at least 73 innings for Queens, led by McCurry's 95 1/3 innings of work. Over that span, McCurry is 7-7 with a 4.41 ERA and 57 strikeouts. The Lady Railsplitters are also likely to see Evie Scott (7-5, 3.94 ERA, 37 K's) and Catelyn Presley (4-7, 3.82, 22) at some point in Saturday's doubleheader.
-Queens is 8-4 at home this season with substantially better offensive numbers. On the road, the Royals have hit .239 with a .280 on-base percentage and two home runs in 12 games. Over that same span at home, Queens is batting .280 with a .363 on-base clip and eight home runs.
 
Series History:
-The Lady Railsplitters are 6-1 all-time against Queens and a perfect 4-0 since the Royals joined the South Atlantic Conference prior to the 2014 season. Lincoln Memorial swept last season's doubleheader in Harrogate, winning game one 6-5 before capturing a 5-2 win in game two. The Lady Railsplitters won game one on a walk-off single in the bottom of the ninth, while Taylor allowed just six hits and two unearned runs over six innings of work to pick up the win in game two.
-The Lady Railsplitters swept the Royals in Charlotte in 2014, winning game one 3-1 and game two 7-6.