March 17, 2009
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Complete Game Notes in PDF Format 
FLYERS HOST SIX GAMES THIS WEEK
After starting off the 2009 season travelling more than 5,000 miles and playing in four tournaments, the University of Dayton softball team is now in the middle of an eight-game home stand. Dayton hosts the Indiana State Sycamores Wednesday, March 18 at 3 p.m. ET at UD Softball Stadium. It's the Flyers' final tune-up before starting Atlantic 10 play. Dayton hosts Rhode Island on Friday, March 20 at 5 p.m. ET to kick off the conference season. The game will be held at Athletes in Action Stadium in Xenia, Ohio. The Rams and Flyers will face off again on Saturday, March 21 at 12 p.m. ET at UD Softball Stadium. Finally, the Flyers will close out the week with an A-10 doubleheader against #23/14 Massachusetts on Sunday, March 22 at 12 p.m. ET. at AIA Stadium.
MY OH MEYER - A-10 HONORS
Dayton's Molly Meyer was named the Atlantic 10's Co-Player of the Week for her performance from March 2-13. Meyer leads the A-10 in hits (29), runs scored (22) and total bases (43). She is second in the conference in doubles, belting out six so far this season. The dynamo is averaging a league-high .509 batting average, after hitting .591 over the last two weeks for the Flyers. She leads UD with a sparkling .754 slugging percentage. Meyer went 6-for-8 against Cleveland State in a non-conference twinbill on Saturday, March 14. She was one dinger shy of hitting for the cycle against Morehead State Sunday, March 8.
CRANKING IT IN KENTUCKY
•Junior Molly Meyer was on fire in the Flyers' appearance in Morehead State's Comfort Inn & Suites Tournament. She went 7-for-14, including 3-for-4 in the final game against the Eagles, just a homerun shy of hitting for the cycle.
•Freshman Brandy Brown hit her first collegiate homerun, Dayton's only shot of the tournament and it came against Oakland.
•Senior Lyndsi Gocken stepped to the plate against Wright State and belted a two-out, two-run double on the first pitch.
•Freshman Megan Barrett tallied her first collegiate hit of the season and it came against Oakland in the Comfort Inn & Suites Tournament. She went 1-for-1 against the Grizzlies with a bunt single, two walks and a run scored. Barrett also got on base in both her opportunities against Morehead State on the final day of the tournament. In both at bats, she was hit by a pitch, and scored one run.
DOUBLING UP
The Flyers turned five double plays at the Comfort Inn & Suites Tournament on March 7-8. Senior Katie Jordan was in on three of those GDPs, fielding the ball, tagging out the runner and tossing to first to complete the double play. Brandy Brown got in on the action, snagging a line drive and throwing out the runner at first. Molly Meyer made a spectacular play in the opening game of the tournament against Morehead State, making a running catch and gunning down the runner back at first to complete a double play. The Flyers have seven DPs on the season.
NEED A BIB FOR ALL THOSE RBI
Junior Anne Maci leads the Flyers with 14 RBI this season. She tallied four of Dayton's eight RBI at the Comfort Inn & Suites Tournament.
WEB GEMS
Molly Meyer had three putouts against Wright State at the Comfort Inn & Suites Tournament, including a diving catch in right center and a high line drive she snagged. Katie Jordan also made some web-gem worthy diving, fielding plays in the tournament and was second on the weekend for the Flyers with seven assists. She also had no errors. Courtney Kutsulis, Sarah Wedel, Alicia Nichols, Eva Rappe and Raime Cronkhite also posted perfect fielding percentages for the weekend.
PITCHER THIS
The University of Dayton pitching corps posted a 4.46 ERA in the Comfort Inn & Suites Tournament in Morehead, Ky. March 7-8. Freshman Sarah Wedel led the way with a 2.62 ERA. Junior Eva Rappe struck out six on the weekend, bringing her team-high KO count to 31.
SCOUTING INDIANA STATE (6-9)
Conference: Missouri Valley Conference
Series: Indiana State leads the series 5-1-0. The Sycamores picked up two wins last season over the Flyers; 6-2 and 5-1.
Key Players: Katie Armour leads Indiana State with a .438 batting average and 16 RBI. The senior also puts time in on the mound and owns a 1-1 record. Top pitcher Darcy Wood, a senior, has struck out 76 this season.
Key Stats: The Sycamores broke a six-game skid with two wins against Wichita State and are 3-4 in one-run games.
SCOUTING RHODE ISLAND (3-7)
Conference: Atlantic 10
Series: The series is tied 14-14-1 between Rhode Island and Dayton. The two split last season with the Flyers taking game one, 7-5, and URI won game two, 8-4.
Key Players: Junior Leah DiBussolo leads Rhode Island with a .292 batting average. Junior Melissa Wilson has belted two homeruns and has a team-high 5 RBI.
Key Stats: The Rams have hit 3 doubles, 3 triples and 3 homeruns this season and are hitting .196 as a team.
SCOUTING #23/14 UMASS (11-6)
Conference: Atlantic 10
Series: The Minutewomen lead the series 22-3-0. UMass swept the doubleheader last season in Amherst, Mass.
Key Players: Senior pitcher Brandice Balschmiter is the three-time A-10 Pitcher of the Year and a three-time All-American. She has a 1.49 ERA and has struck out 68. Junior Michelle Libby leads UMass at the plate with .368 batting average.
Key Stats: UMass is 10-1 when it outhits opponents and 11-2 when it scores first.
THE DIRT ON DAYTON
Last season the Flyers achieved their first 20-win season in three years and more than doubled their Atlantic 10 win total from 2007. Cara Clark's 20 wins was the most by any first-year head coach at UD. A vast majority of the team's numbers improved from the 2007 season to 2008. The Flyers return nine players, including six position starters, and a starting pitcher. The team also features six incoming freshmen. After going 0-4 in the UNI-Dome Classic, the Flyers went on to achieve a 10-1 record in neutral-site games.
STEGEMAN STARTING STREAK
Sophomore Emily Stegeman had started every game of her career, 60 consecutive starts, until she missed the games against Princeton and Chattanooga. She returned to the starting lineup in the Morehead State Comfort Inn & Suites Tournament on March 7-8.
ROAD WARRIORS
The Flyer softball squad has already travelled more than 5,000 miles by air and road this season after visits to Cedar Falls, Iowa, Corpus Christi, Texas, Chattanooga, Tenn. and Morehead, Ky. Dayton will travel nearly 12,000 miles during the 2009 season.
GOING ELK GROVE GANGBUSTER
Molly Meyer scored six of Dayton's seven runs at the Islander Invitational in Corpus Christi, Texas (Feb. 20-22). The junior went 7-of-15 (.467) and hit her first homerun of the season. She also belted her team-leading third double during the tournament.
START ME UP
The Flyers get off to a quick start, and have outscored opponents 25-21 in the first two innings after their first 17 games. The fourth and sixth innings have been UD's detriment where it has been outscored 59-9.
WEEKEND OF FIRSTS
The Flyers posted a 2-2 record at the UNI-Dome Classic in Cedar Falls, Iowa (Feb. 7-8) where several "firsts" were achieved. With its 10-5 victory over North Dakota on Sunday, Feb. 8, Dayton won its first-ever indoor game. Also...
•In the first frame in her first at bat this season, sophomore Allie Falk delivered a two-run triple, her first collegiate three-bagger, against NDSU.
•Sophomore Emily Stegeman cranked out her first collegiate homerun, a two-run dinger in the bottom of the first to spark the Flyers to a six-run inning against North Dakota.
•In that same inning sophomore Alicia Nichols tallied her first collegiate RBI, with a single to give Dayton a 6-4 lead over the Fighting Sioux.
•Freshman Courtney Kutsulis also got in on the action, registering her first collegiate hit, an RBI double in the bottom of the third.
•Senior Katie Jordan's first career collegiate triple came on Feb. 8 against South Dakota State.
A CAREER DAY
Senior Katie Jordan and junior Eva Rappe enjoyed personal bests in Dayton's 10-5 win over North Dakota on Feb. 8. Jordan posted a career-best, single-game performance of 3 RBI against the Fighting Sioux, while Rappe had her best single-game performance on the mound with a career-high seven Ks.
SOUTHSIDE HITWOMEN
Dayton tallied 10 double-digit hit games last season, including its contest last year against North Dakota when it had 13, just two off the season-high of 15 against IUPUI (March 24, 2008). The Flyers continued the trend, smacking 11 hits this season against the Fighting Sioux on Feb. 8, 2009.
ROOKIE RUBBER ARM
Freshman Sarah Wedel threw a three-hit shutout in her first career collegiate start, propelling the Flyers to an 8-0 win against South Dakota State. She is the first Dayton freshman to earn a shutout in her first collegiate start (since UD pitching records were kept in 1990).
RUNNING OVER THE COMPETITION
The Flyers' 8-0, five-inning, run rule victory against South Dakota State on Feb. 8 at the UNI-Dome Classic is the first UD run-rule win for Dayton since April 25, 2004 it downed La Salle, 9-0.
DAYTON DOMINATES A-10 HONOR ROLL
The University of Dayton Division of Athletics continued its long tradition of success in the classroom by placing 108 student-athletes on the Atlantic 10 Commissioner's Honor Roll for the Fall 2008 semester. The A-10 Honor Roll recognizes each student-athlete with a 3.5 grade-point average or higher during. Dayton was second among the 14 A-10 Conference institutions in number of student-athletes recognized despite sponsoring fewer sports than all but one school in the league. The Flyers were just two shy of La Salle's 110 student-athletes honored on the list. The Explorers sponsor 20 sports that compete in the A-10 compared to UD's 14. The following softball players helped UD reach 108: Katie Jordan, Anne Maci, Molly Meyer, Alicia Nichols and Eva Rappe.
RAPPE YOUR MIND AROUND THIS
Junior pitcher Eva Rappe broke the UD record for saves in a season with three and also broke the record for career saves. The Flyers were tied for first in the Atlantic 10 for saves last season with four.
GOING OUT WITH A BANG
In the Flyers' last series of the 2008 season, which came against Saint Louis, sophomore Emily Stegeman (4-for-7), and juniors Molly Meyer (3-for-6) and Megan Lee (4-for-7) combined to hit .550.
THE MEYER MASSACRE
Junior Molly Meyer brings a career batting average of .336 into the 2009 campaign. She is Dayton's leading returning hitter, after hitting .339 last season with 58 hits. She led the Flyers with 37 runs scored (5th in the A-10) and three triples. Her .336 average going into the season is fourth all-time.
THE GOOD HANDS PEOPLE
Last year the Flyers finished first in the Atlantic 10 in Team Fielding Percentage (.968) and a conference-low 47 errors. Junior Molly Meyer had a phenomenal .988 fielding percentage in center field and junior first baseman Anne Maci was right behind her with .986 and only five errors. Maci was fourth in A-10 in opportunities and putouts, recording 347 and 322 respectively. Maci was tied first in fielding double plays with 10.
SAC IT TO ME
The Flyers were second in the A-10 in sacrifice bunts with 59 in 2008. Junior Megan Lee had seven and both Katie Jordan and Molly Meyer had six.
RUNNING THE TABLE
The Flyers finished fourth in the A-10 in both runs scored (194) and runs batted in (171). Junior Molly Meyer was fifth in the Atlantic 10 in runs scored with 37 last season. Junior Anne Maci is Dayton's leading returner in the category, bringing home 31 RBI. Maci also paced the Flyers in doubles, smacking 12 of Dayton's 56, which was fifth-best in the A-10.
