Softball: Ohio Northern (18-10 Overall, 11-1 OAC) at Otterbein (18-12 Overall, 9-3 OAC)

Tuesday, April 16, 2019, 3 p.m. — Otterbein Softball Field, Westerville, Ohio

Tuesday's Preview: The Ohio Northern softball team wraps up back-to-back road dates on Tuesday with a trip to Otterbein for an Ohio Athletic Conference doubleheader ... Game one is slated for a 3 p.m. first pitch at the Otterbein Softball Field in Westerville ... The Polar Bears currently own an 18-10 overall record and an 11-1 record in the OAC, which sits first in the league standings ... Northern is coming off an 8-9, 9-8 split with nonconference foe Wittenberg yesterday afternoon ... Freshman infielder Kara May led the Polar Bears with a five-for-nine outing, which included two RBI, two doubles, and two runs scored ... Classmate Abby Elliott added four hits, a run, two RBI, and a stolen base ... Meanwhile, reigning OAC Hitter of the Week Hailee Loughman and freshman Hannah Rubel contributed a team-high three RBI each ... Through 28 games, junior Gabby Stewart leads the team with 40 hits and a .449 batting average, which ties for fourth on the conference leaderboards ... Loughman and junior Brady Guest sit 2-3 in batting average with .447 and .411 marks, respectively ... Loughman additionally leads the team with 26 RBI, which ranks eighth in the league ... Guest leads the team and is tied for fifth in the league with four home runs ... In the circle, senior Kaitlin Surdej leads ONU with an 11-5 record, a 2.71 ERA, and 63 strikeouts in 118.2 innings ... She leads the OAC with three saves and stands third in wins, fifth in strikeouts, and seventh in ERA among qualifying pitchers ... Stewart ranks 19th all-time in ONU history with 132 career base hits ... Loughman owns 126 career hits, which ties for 22nd-most all-time ... Surdej ranks third all-time at ONU in strikeouts (308), fourth in wins (43), and fourth in innings pitched (477.0) in her career ... Otterbein enters Tuesday's contests with an 18-12 overall record and a 9-3 conference record, placing them in a two-way for second in the league standings with Muskingum ... The Cardinals swept Capital last Saturday 3-2 and 9-1 (F/5) ... Senior Alyson Shaw currently paces the team with a .386 batting average, 39 hits, and 25 runs scored ... Meanwhile, sophomore Maria Herron tops the team with 23 RBI this season ... Senior pitcher Gabby Johnson leads the team with 12 wins, 114 strikeouts, and a 2.40 ERA, which all rank in the top-three on the conference leaderboards.

Ohio Northern Batting Leaders

Ohio Northern Pitching Leaders

All-Time Series Notes: Ohio Northern currently leads the all-time series 50-20 over Otterbein ... Last season, the two teams split four meetings ... Otterbein swept the regular season matchups 7-2, 12-1 while ONU claimed the two OAC Tournament meetings 3-2, 3-2 to win the championship crown.

ONU Head Coach Jackie Price: Price is currently in her third season as the head softball coach at Ohio Northern ... She owns a 75-34 overall record, a .688 win percentage.