May 2, 2008
Complete Release in PDF Format
The stage is set for a winner-take-all battle between the University of Dayton Flyers and the Saint Louis Billikens. A pair of wins will put the Flyers in prime position for the final spot in the Atlantic 10 Championships, while a sole win by the Billikens will punch their ticket to Charlotte.
SCOUTING THE BILLIKENS
Saint Louis is riding a four-game winning streak coming into this weekend's series with a pair of wins over Western Illinois. Rachel Heet is the Billiken's top scoring threat hitting a solid .335 thus far. Heet has also driven in a team-leading 31 runs this season. Pitchers Lorena Floccari and Stacy Gillette are both potential threats in the circle for SLU both with 90-plus strikeouts apiece. The Billikens are 10th in A-10 in batting and 9th in fielding while the Flyers are third in hitting and first in fielding.
FLYERS ADD TWO MORE TO 2008-09 RECRUITING CLASS
Head coach Cara Clark and the University of Dayton softball team added two more future Flyers to the 2008-2009 recruiting class on April 10 inking Courtney Kutsulis and Lauren Nacke to National Letters of Intent. With the latest additions Dayton has now added five total players to the 2008-2009 recruiting class. Clark and her staff inked Brandy Brown, Raime Cronkhite and Kristina Ortiz all to letters of intent during the early signing period last fall. The five signings mark the beginning of Clark's first full recruiting class at Dayton.
MEYER ONE OF A-10'S BEST
Atlantic 10 statistics show that Molly Meyer is one of the league's top hitters. Meyer has cranked out 55 hits this season including seven doubles.In addition, she is fifth in runs scored with 35. Meyer is also tied for the lead in the A-10 with three triples this season.
MY OH MEYER
As a leadoff hitter, Meyer has 55 hits in 165 at-bats for a season batting average of .333. Meyer has an on base percentage of .430. She went 3-of-4 in her second game against North Dakota and 2-of-3 against South Dakota State University. Meyer also went 2-of-3 in back-to-back games at the Panther Invitational. At George Washington she hit 4-for-5 in the second game driving in one run and scoring one. Against St. Bonaventure Meyer cranked out her first collegiate home run with a two-run walk off blast in the bottom of the 10th to win the game.
MACI'S DAY PARADE
Sophomore slugger Anne Maci has been making a name for herself at the plate. On April 12, she swatted a home run at George Washington. On February 9 against North Dakota, Maci was 2-of-3, collected one double and drove in two runs. On the very next day, she went 2-of-3 again this time driving one runner in against the Fighting Sioux. In UD's win over Tennessee State, Maci was 3-of-4 and collected four RBI's. Against IUPUI she hit two home runs and a walk off double to win the game in extra innings. She has amassed 30 RBI's this season, shattering her career-best mark of five.
GOING YARD
With her home run against La Salle on April 6, Blair Crabtree has climbed all the way up to third all-time in UD history with 11 homers. In addition, Crabtree ranks second in the Atlantic 10 with 37 RBI's.
BLAIR'S BANNER YEAR
Blair Crabtree has had one of the most remarkable senior seasons in recent Flyer history. Crabtree has nearly doubled her RBI and hit totals. In addition, Crabtree went 4-for-4 against Rhode Island driving in four runners in the game.
SIXTEEN CANDLES
At the UNI Classic, Blair Crabtree went 2-for-3 in back-to-back games on her birthday, February 9. She also collected one double, one RBI and crossed the plate twice. The icing on the cake was a .667 batting average on the day. Laura Matthews went 3-of-5 on her birthday March 2, smacking two doubles and tagging out the game-tying out to end the game against Appalachian State.
THE HITS KEEP COMING
Junior Mollie Schrank keeps piling up the hits for the Flyers. Schrank is tied for the lead in the Atlantic 10 with 61 hits, giving her career totals of 142 hits in 408 at-bats. Schrank also leads the team with 11 stolen bases and is fourth in the nation with 19 sacrifice hits this season.
"MOLL"ING IT OVER
In addition to her 139 career hits, Schrank has also placed herself fourth among all Flyers past and present in batting average. She is currently batting .348 in her UD career.
THE ZIONSVILLE CANNON
Senior pitcher Erin Lafayette has thrown 194 career strikeouts. That total places her fourth in Flyer history. Melissa Myher holds the all-time record for strikeouts in a career with 498. She has also pitched 372.2 innings, which places her fourth on UD's all-time list. LaFayette has struck out 101 so far this season. She set a career-best against Rhode Island striking out nine batters in a single game. She also struck out eight in both games against St. Bonaventure on April 26.
SEVEN KINDS OF SMOKE
While her 194 strikeouts are nothing to scoff at, Erin Lafayette is also one of the most efficient pitchers in Flyer history. LaFayette has a current ratio of 3.65 strikeouts per seven innings.
THAT'S A RAPPE!
Sophomore Eva Rappe knows a thing or two about sitting batters down. Last season Rappe collected 21 strikeouts in 63.2 innings pitched. In 126.1 innings pitched this season, she has already sent 62 batters back to the dugout with their heads hung, including four strikeouts against North Dakota on February 10, six strikeouts against IPFW and four more in games against Temple and Saint Joseph's.
SAVE-A-LOT
Eva Rappe can bring the heat, but lately she's been known best for icing batters at the end of a game. At the EKU Invitational Rappe stepped in and shut down the Eastern Kentucky offense collecting her first collegiate save. In the next game, she repeated her effort, this time keeping Cleveland State at-bay for her second straight save giving her the new record for saves in a single-season. She added to that total on March 19 when she collected the save against Colgate, breaking the school record for career saves. Most recently, Rappe came in relief in extra innings against URI to collect the win over the Rams, retiring the last three batters in order.
MUSIC CITY MASHER
Laura Matthews has quietly shot up the charts as one of the team's top hitters. Last season she had 13 hits in 32 games, but through 49 games this year Matthews has already cranked out 42 hits. Matthews is presently batting .328 at the plate. She also hit her fourth career home run against Ohio. It was the first time Matthews hit a home run since April 23, 2006.
MATTHEWS NAMED A-10 PLAYER OF THE WEEK ON MARCH 3
Laura Matthews has really come alive in her senior year. At the EKU Invitational, Matthews racked up a .625 average going 5-of-8 and smacking two doubles and driving in three. For her efforts the Atlantic 10 awarded her Player of the Week honors on March 3. This was the first time a Flyer softball player has received this honor in over three years.
CRIME AND PUNISHMENT
Senior catcher Laura Matthews has also been a force behind the plate for the Flyers. Matthews has already thrown 15 runners out that have dared to steal a base on her watch. She has almost doubled her career mark this season which was previously set at nine thrown out.
KICKIN' WITH KJ
Coming into the season, junior Katie Jordan had only stepped up to the plate 15 times in her entire career with a batting average of .067. Jordan has already been at-bat 131 times, collecting three doubles, 17 runs seven RBI's and one home run. Her lone home run came in the bottom of the seventh inning against St. Bonaventure to force the game to extra innings, which the Flyers won in 10.
FEATS OF STRENGTH
Freshman Emily Stegeman is making an impact in her first season. Stegeman has 15 runs on 36 hits. She is hitting .281 and has started all 49 games. However, more impressive are her 16 RBI's and her ranking fifth on the team in batting average. Stegeman has made numerous acrobatic plays including a diving catch to end the inning against Eastern Kentucky and another leaping out to rob the Colonels of a sure base-hit.
COMING THROUGH IN THE CLUTCH
Sophomore Megan Lee has been a force in multiple games for the Flyers. With two outs and one runnner on base, Lee smacked her first collegiate home run win the game for Dayton 2-1 over Saint Joseph's. Against North Dakota, Lee stepped in and hit a double bringing in two RBI's. Versus Tennessee State, Lee went 2-of-3 at the plate. Lee is batting .231 through 47 games with seven sacrifices. Lee has also not made an error in right field, her first season playing the position.
BULS ON PARADE
Freshman Leah Buls collected her first win in an 8-3 downing of Cleveland State on March 2. She has pitched 15.0 innings and struck out five this season.
DESIGNATED PUNISHER
As a designated player Allie Falk has collected 21 hits and three doubles. Falk most notably hit a grand slam home run against Fordham on April 5. Not only was it the first grand slam of her collegiate careeer, but it was also the first home run at UD.
RANKING WITH THE BEST
Through 49 games there is one thing that the Flyers do know, they can hit the ball. In fact, among Atlantic 10 foes, they rank third in batting with a .273 average. In addition, UD has collected 54 doubles which ranks them fifth in the A-10. Dayton is averaging 1.10 doubles per game. Last year Dayton hit .233 with only 30 doubles.
THE EARLY BIRD GETS THE WORM
The beginning of the Flyers season on February 9 came 31 days earlier than last season. In that time, the Flyers played in 13 games. When everything was said and done the Flyers played in 21 contests before Atlantic 10 competition. Only two other A-10 teams started their season as early as UD this year.
NEW YEARS RESOLUTION
In one year's time the Flyers have shown a tremendous turnaround. UD has improved their batting average from .233 to .273. The Flyers have scored 189 times this season compared to last year's 119. Dayton has also cranked out 162 RBI's this year compared to last year's 96 hit.
DAYTON "D" HAVING A FIELD DAY
Some say the best defense is a good offense, but what's so bad about a good defense as well? UD leads the Atlantic 10 with a .968 fielding percentage ranking them 24th in the nation. In addition, the Flyers have caught 17 stealing already this season.
GOCKEN AMONG 2007 JUNIOR COLLEGE CATCHERS OF THE YEAR
Lyndsi Gocken was among 10 catchers named the 2007 Diamond Sports Catcher of the Year. The award, presented by the National Fastpitch Coaches Association and Diamond Sports, is given to the top catcher from NFCA member schools. Gocken was the recipient of the award for the National Junior College Athletics Association Division III level.
PLANES, TRAINS AND AUTOMOBILES
UD began the season on a 25-game road swing taking them through two time zones and nine different states. In addition, the Flyers played in four different tournaments before playing at Charlotte in March. Over the course of the season they are expected to log more than 10,000 miles on the road round-trip.
DYNAMIC DUO IN DISTANT LANDS
Last summer, sophomore Megan Lee and freshman Emily Stegeman traveled to China as part of a softball exhibition. The two of them traveled as part of the Miami Valley Xpress club team to promote softball for the 2008 Olympic Games that are held in Beijing this summer.
