Friday, May 3 - Sunday, May 5, 2019 — Donna J. Newberry Field, New Concord, Ohio
| OAC Championships Page |
This Weekend's Preview: The second-seeded Ohio Northern softball program will look to defend its 2018 OAC Tournament title this weekend in the 2019 rendition at Muskingum's Donna J. Newberry Field in New Concord ... The Polar Bears will open tournament play on Friday morning at 10 a.m. against third-seeded Baldwin Wallace ... ONU earned the No. 2 seed in this year's tournament after posting a 14-4 record in OAC action, just one game removed from OAC Regular Season champion Muskingum ... Ohio Northern will be making its 24th appearance in the OAC Tournament all-time and its fifth in the past six campaigns ... The Polar Bears have been crowned OAC Tournament champions six times and recorded runner-up finishes on five occasions ... ONU is 37-36 all-time in the OAC Tournament, a .507 win percentage ... The Polar Bears are coming off 6-3 and 11-3 (F/5) losses to nonconference foe Case Western Reserve on Tuesday ... Senior Hailee Loughman paced the team with four hits in five official at-bats ... Meanwhile, junior Gabby Stewart and freshman Hannah Rubel each contributed three hits while the former added a team-high two RBI ... Through 38 games, Loughman leads the team and stands fourth in the OAC with a .439 batting average ... Meanwhile, Stewart ranks second on the team with a .421 batting average and tops the team with 28 runs, 51 base hits, and 36 RBI, which ties for fourth-most in the league ... In the circle, senior Kaitlin Surdej leads the staff with a 13-8 record, a 2.74 ERA, four saves, and 86 strikeouts in 148.1 innings ... She leads the league in saves and sits tied for second in wins, sixth in ERA, and fourth in strikeouts ... Stewart ranks 14th all-time in ONU history with 143 career base hits, tied for ninth with 33 doubles, ninth with 11 home runs, and tied for eighth with 103 career RBI ... Loughman has 138 career hits, which ties for 16th-most all-time ... Loughman also sits eighth with 35 career doubles and has 99 career RBI ... Surdej ranks second all-time at ONU in strikeouts (331) and third in wins (45) in her career ... Junior Brady Guest has 92 career base hits, needing just eight more to join the 100-Hit Club ... The Ohio Northern/Baldwin Wallace winner will advance to play the winner of top-seeded Muskingum and fourth-seeded Otterbein at 2 p.m. on Friday ... Meanwhile, the two losers will play an elimination game at 4 p.m. on Friday ... Action resumes Saturday with two contests at 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. while Sunday includes an "if necessary" game seven ... The OAC Tournament champion will receive an automatic bid to the NCAA Division III Tournament, which begins next weekend.
Ohio Northern Batting Leaders
| |
Batting Ave. |
|
|
|
Hits |
|
|
|
Runs |
|
|
|
RBI |
|
| 1. |
Loughman |
.439 |
|
1. |
Stewart |
51 |
|
1. |
Stewart |
28 |
|
1. |
Stewart |
36 |
| 2. |
Stewart |
.421 |
|
2. |
Loughman |
50 |
|
2. |
R.Hish |
26 |
|
2. |
Loughman |
32 |
| 3. |
Anderson |
.393 |
|
3. |
Guest |
45 |
|
3. |
May |
23 |
|
3. |
Guest |
25 |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Guest |
23 |
|
|
|
|
Ohio Northern Pitching Leaders
| |
Wins |
|
|
|
ERA |
|
|
|
Strikeouts |
|
| 1. |
Surdej |
13 |
|
1. |
Surdej |
2.74 |
|
1. |
Surdej |
86 |
| 2. |
Anderson |
6 |
|
2. |
Anderson |
4.47 |
|
2. |
Anderson |
32 |
| 3. |
Walters |
2 |
|
3. |
Walters |
11.48 |
|
3. |
Walters |
7 |
All-Time Series Notes: The Polar Bears are 6-3 against Baldwin Wallace and 4-0 against Otterbein all-time in the OAC Tournament ... Meanwhile, the Muskies have a slim, 12-11 advantage over ONU in the OAC Tournament.
ONU Head Coach Jackie Price: Price is currently in her third season as the head softball coach at Ohio Northern ... She owns a 78-41 overall record, a .655 win percentage ... In five seasons overall as a head coach, Price is 99-90 for a .524 win percentage.
