Softball: Ohio Northern (10-2 Overall, 0-0 OAC) at Heidelberg (9-5 Overall, 0-0 OAC)

Saturday, Mar. 24, 2018 - 1 p.m. - Frann's Field - Tiffin, Ohio

Preview: The Ohio Northern softball team returns home from its spring break trip to open the northern and Ohio Athletic Conference portion of its 2018 schedule with a double header at Heidelberg ... Northern will compete after a nearly two week break after multiple contests were postponed and rescheduled due to inclement weather ... The Polar Bears finished an impressive 10-2 during their 12-game trip in Kissimmee, Florida ... During the trip, senior Jenna Hollar was a presence offensively and on the bases ... She got off to the best start in her career during Spring Break ... The senior was a force offensively with 26 hits, 20 runs, and five RBI ... Hollar also recorded 17 stolen bases during the trip, and became ONU's all-time steals leader with 100 career stolen bases thus far ... Hollar did all of this while hitting a staggering .578 at the plate ... Sophomore Gabby Stewart ranked second on the team with 15 hits for ONU, including a team-best four doubles and tallied a team-best 13 RBI ... Senior Miranda Huddle also posted double-digit hits during the trip, recording 10 hits ... In the pitchers circle, both senior Kirsten Lightel and junior Kaitlin Surdej shined ... Each posted a 5-1 record, pitching six complete games apiece ... Lightel fanned 31 batters, while Surdej struck out 31 batters ... Lightel posted an impressive 2.17 ERA, while her counterpart recorded a 3.26 ERA ... Lightel is currently tied for third with Surdej in the OAC with five victories on the mound ...Lightel is third in the OAC in K's, while Surdej ranks fifth in the league in the category ... Offensively, Hollar's .578 batting average ranks second in the OAC, while her 17 stolen bases leads the league, while her 1.42 stolen bases per contest ranks fourth best nationally ... Heidelberg enters the contest after splitting a twinbill at Defiance ... The Student Princes have nine athletes with double-digit hits, led by senior Haylee Patel's 20 hits ... Sophomore Casey Moore and senior Abbey McKee rank 2-3 on the team with 18 and 17 hits, respectively ... McKee currently leads the team and ranks second in the OAC with 16 RBI, while Patel is second on the team and third in the OAC with 15 RBI, and Moore is third on the team and tied for fourth in the OAC with 14 RBI ... Patel and Moore also rank 1-2 and 4-5 in the OAC in batting average, hitting .500 and .467, respectively ... McKee's four home runs is currently tied for first in the OAC ... Sophomore Kaitlyn Moore currently has an OAC-best six victories in the pitchers circle and leads the team and ranks fourth in the conference with 34 K's.

Batting Leaders

Pitching Leaders

Series Notes: ONU leads the all-time series between the two schools by a 56-14 margin ... HU has won three straight in the series and four of the last five matchups.

ONU head coach Jackie Price: Price is in her second season as head coach of the Polar Bears and owns an 35-15 record, a winning percentage of .700.