Softball: Ohio Northern (24-6 Overall, 10-4 OAC) at Marietta (15-13 Overall, 7-5 OAC)
Saturday, Apr. 21, 2018 - 1 p.m. - Marietta Field - Marietta, Ohio
Preview: Northern enters Saturday afternoon's twinbill at Marietta after dropping a pair of contests to Otterbein at the ONU Softball Field on Friday afternoon ... The Polar Bears are currently tied for second in the Ohio Athletic Conference standings ... Through 30 games this season, senior Jenna Hollar currently leads the team and ranks second in the OAC, hitting .476 ... Sophomore Gabby Stewart ranks second on the team with a .422 batting average ... Hollar currently leads the team and ranks second in the OAC with 50 hits, while Stewart leads the team and ranks second in the OAC with 33 RBI ... Hollar leads the OAC with 33 stolen bases, and is tied with former Polar Bear Mandi Fought first the most steals in a single season in ONU softball history ... Her 189 career hits ranks seventh all-time at ONU ... Hollar also ranks sixth all-time at ONU with 137 runs scored ... Senior Kirsten Lightel currently leads the OAC in ERA (1.55) and wins (13), while junior Kailtin Surdej is second in the OAC with a 2.48 ERA and is tied for second in the OAC with 11 victories ... Lightel also leads the team and ranks second in the OAC with 100 K's ... She became the only pitcher in ONU history to record 100 strikeouts in each of her four seasons at Northern ... Marietta enters the contest after sweeping Wilmington ... The Pioneers currently rank fourth in the OAC standings and own a 1-game lead over Muskingum for the fourth spot in the OAC standings heading down the stretch of the 2018 season ... The Pioneers are led offensively by sophomore Alyssa Cook's 37 hits ... Junior Reagan Tom ranks second on the team with 34 hits ... Freshman Jordan Pallay, the OAC's reigning hitter of the week, leads the team with 29 RBI this season ... She is also tied for fourth in the OAC with six home runs ... Freshman Jackie Mulvain leads the pitching staff with seven victories this season ... Freshman Maddi Liston leads the team with 39 K's, while Mulvain is second on the team with 28 K's.
Batting Leaders
| Batting Ave. | Hits | Runs | RBI | |||||||||||
| 1. | Hollar | .476 | 1. | Hollar | 50 | 1. | Hollar | 41 | 1. | Stewart | 33 | |||
| 2. | Stewart | .422 | 2. | Stewart | 38 | 2. | Swierz | 20 | 2. | Guest | 22 | |||
| 3. | Guest | .415 | 3. | Guest | 27 | 3. | Stewart | 19 | 3. | Loughman | 18 |
Pitching Leaders
| Wins | ERA | Strikeouts | ||||||||
| 1. | Lightel | 13 | 1. | Lightel | 1.55 | 1. | Lightel | 100 | ||
| 2. | Surdej | 11 | 2. | Surdej | 2.48 | 2. | Surdej | 56 |
Series Notes: ONU leads the all-time series between the two schools by a 42-26 margin ... ONU swept the season series in 2017 and has won six of the last seven contests in the series.
ONU head coach Jackie Price: Price is in her second season as head coach of the Polar Bears and owns an 49-19 record, a winning percentage of .721.