Softball: Hanover (10-6 Overall, 0-0 HCAC) at Ohio Northern (11-3 Overall, 1-1 OAC)
Monday, Mar. 26, 2018 - 2:30 p.m. - ONU Softball Field - Ada, Ohio
Preview: The Ohio Northern softball team will kick off its home schedule on Monday afternoon at the ONU Softball Field with a double header against Hanover (Ind.) ... The contest, originally scheduled for Tuesday, Mar. 20, is ONU's first home contest of the season and only its second day of action since returning from a successful spring break trip ... ONU is enters the contest after splitting a pair of contests with Heidelberg in its Ohio Athletic Conference opener on Saturday ... In Northern 3-0 victory in game one, senior Kirsten Lightel fueled the victory with a complete game shutout victory in the pitchers circle ... Lightel tied a career-high with 12 strikeouts in the victory ... Sophomore Gabby Stewart hit her first home run of the season in the victory ... Through 14 games this season, Northern is led offensively by senior Jenna Hollar's impressive 27 hits ... The mark ranks third best in the OAC ... Jenna also leads the team and ranks second in the OAC with a .529 batting average and leads the OAC and team with 18 stolen bases ... Lightel currently leads the pitching staff with a 1.80 ERA (4th in the OAC), six victories (tied for second in the OAC), and 50 strikeouts (second in the OAC) ... Hanover enters the contest after dropping its last two contests ... Through 16 games this season, the Panthers have three players with at least 20 hits ... Senior Dabney Skutt leads the team with 25 hits, freshman Mackenzie Smith is second with 22 hits and senior McKenzie Writt is third with 20 hits ... Skutt and Writt are also tied for the lead on the team with 15 RBI each, while Skutt's .472 BA leads the team ... In the pitchers circle, junior Sydney Griffin leads the team with seven victories, one save, 78 strikeouts and a 2.61 ERA.
Batting Leaders
| Batting Ave. | Hits | Runs | RBI | |||||||||||
| 1. | Hollar | .529 | 1. | Hollar | 27 | 1. | Hollar | 21 | 1. | Stewart | 15 | |||
| 2. | Stewart | .386 | 2. | Stewart | 17 | 2. | Huddle | 9 | 2. | Huddle | 6 | |||
| 3. | Swierz | .345 | 3. | Huddle | 12 | 3. | Swierz | 6 | 3. | Five tied | 5 |
Pitching Leaders
| Wins | ERA | Strikeouts | ||||||||
| 1. | Lightel | 6 | 1. | Lightel | 1.80 | 1. | Lightel | 50 | ||
| 2. | Surdej | 5 | 2. | Surdej | 3.40 | 2. | Surdej | 33 |
Series Notes: Hanover owns a 1-0 series lead over Ohio Northern ... The Panthers won the first ever meeting between the schools in 2015 by a score of 5-4.
ONU head coach Jackie Price: Price is in her second season as head coach of the Polar Bears and owns an 36-16 record, a winning percentage of .692.