March 6, 2008
DAYTON, Ohio -
After winning four of their last five games and sweeping the Eastern Kentucky Invitational, the Dayton Flyers look to continue their momentum against Morehead State on Sunday in a doubleheader.
WEATHER AFFECTS MOREHEAD STATE TOURNAMENT Due to weather in the Ohio Valley, the Morehead State Tournament has been cancelled. However, the Flyers will still play at Morehead State on Sunday in a doubleheader against the Eagles.
ABOUT THE EAGLES Dayton will look to take a bite out of Morehead's 25-22 series advantage over the Flyers on Sunday. Morehead touts an undefeated record this season, including wins over Pittsburgh, Connecticut and Memphis. Kari Quinn is one of the Eagles' best hitters, she has ripped five homers and 17 basehits. Quinn is also part of a two-headed monster with Alex Gjevere in the circle that has combined for 55 strikeouts. Quinn has pitched three complete games and has an ERA of 0.00. Gjevere has pitched six complete games and three shutouts with a 0.88 ERA.
MATTHEWS NAMED A-10 PLAYER OF THE WEEK It is safe to say 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 is the first time a Flyer softball player has received this honors in over three years.
MEYER ONE OF A-10'S BEST Atlantic 10 statistics show that Molly Meyer is one of the league's top hitters. Meyer is first in hits (18) among all of the A-10 teams. In addition, she is tied for second in runs with nine and ranks second in total bases with 24.
MY OH MEYER Molly Meyer is one of the Atlantic 10's best hitters. As a leadoff hitter, Meyer has 18 hits in 40 at-bats for a season batting average of .450. Meyer has also collected a team-high 24 bases this season and has an on base percentage of .600. She went 3-of-4 inside the batter's box 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. Lifetime she is batting a whopping .368 at the plate.
MACI'S DAY PARADE Sophomore slugger Anne Maci has been making a name for herself at the plate. 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. She has amassed 13 RBI's this season, shattering her career-best mark of five. In addition to breaking her best career mark, Maci is currently in second among all active A-10 players for runs batted in during a season.
GOING YARD With her home run on February 24, Blair Crabtree has climbed all the way up to sixth all-time in UD history. Crabtree has seven career home runs, that mark ties her with Tami Roudebush.
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 has 14 hits in 2008 moving her career total to 95 hits in 99 games.
"MOLL"ING IT OVER In addition to her 95 career hits, Schrank has also placed herself third among all Flyers past and present in batting average. She is currently batting a lifetime average of .338. The Fairfield, Ohio junior will more than likely play her 100th game in March.
THE ZIONSVILLE CANNON On Feb. 24, senior pitcher Erin Lafayette reached 100 career strikeouts. That total ties her for eighth place in Flyer history. Melissa Myher holds the all-time record for strikeouts in a career with 498. She has also pitched 240.1 innings, which places her 10th on UD's all-time list.
SEVEN KINDS OF SMOKE While her 103 strikeouts are nothing to scoff at, Erin Lafayette is also one of the most efficient pitchers in Flyer history. LaFayette's has a current ratio of 3.01 strikeouts per 7 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 25.1 innings pitched this season, she has already sent nine batters back to the dugout with their heads hung, including four strikeouts against North Dakota on February 10.
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. Rappe's back-to-back saves give her the new record for saves in a single-season.
MUSIC CITY MASHER Laura Matthews has quietly shot up the charts to lead the Atlantic 10 in batting average. Last season she had 13 hits in 32 games, but through 11 games this year Matthews has already cranked out 15 hits. Matthews is presently batting a blazing .484 at the plate.
CRIME AND PUNISHMENT Senior catcher Laura Matthews has been a force behind the plate for the Flyers. Matthews has already thrown five runners out that have dared to steal a base on her watch. This ties last year's mark of five runners thrown out in 32 games.
KICKIN' WITH KJ Coming into the season, junior Katie Jordan</a> had only played stepped up to the plate 15 times in her entire career with a batting average of .067. Jordan has already been at-bat 24 times, collecting one double, four runs and one RBI.
FEATS OF STRENGTH Freshman Emily Stegeman is making an impact already in eight games played. Stegeman has six runs on four hits. However, more impressive are her two RBI's and two doubles that she has already amassed. Stegeman ranks third on the team with her runs. On the defensive side of the ball, 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. 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 .273 through nine games with one sacrifice.
TOP THREE, THE PLACE TO BE Through 11 games there is one thing that the Flyers do know, they can hit the ball. In fact, among Atlantic 10 foes, they rank second in batting with a .299 average. In addition, UD has collected 18 doubles which ranks them third in the A-10. Dayton is averaging 1.6 doubles per game.
PARTY STARTERS If there is one thing the Flyers have a knack for, it is getting on the scoreboard early. The Flyers are outscoring their opponent in the opening two frames 27-13. UD is also outscoring the opposition 17-1 in the first inning.
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 will potentially play in 13 games, weather permitting of course. When the dust settles the Flyers will have potentially played in 21 contests before facing Atlantic 10 competition. Only two other A-10 teams started their season as early as UD this year.
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 ranks second among A-10 teams in fielding with a .970 fielding percentage. The Flyers are fourth in the A-10 for allowing the fewest errors. In addition, the Flyers have caught five stealing already this season.
BULS ON PARADE Leah Buls collected her first win in an 8-3 downing of Cleveland State on March 2. She has pitched 11.1 innings and struck out three this season.
DAYTON PREDICTED TO FINISH TENTH IN ATLANTIC 10 A-10 Coaches have predicted that the University of Dayton Flyers softball team will finish tenth in Atlantic 10 play this season. This season 10 letter-winners return to the young Flyer squad.Rounding out the top six spots in the coaches poll are UMass, Fordham, Saint Louis, Charlotte, Temple and Saint Joseph's.
SOFTBALL INKS THREE University of Dayton Softball signed three new faces during the early signing period. Brandy Brown, Raime Cronkhite and Kristina Ortiz will don the red and blue for UD next season.
Brandy Brown is a back-to-back All-County, All-Conference and All-District student-athlete in both 2006 and 2007. Cronkhite has helped her team to two City League Tournament Championships, as well as garnering All-District and All-Area Team honors in 2006 and 2007, and in her two previous seasons, Ortiz has been picked to the California Interscholastic Federation Southern Section's Second Team. Also in 2007, Ortiz was named CIF Second Team All-Area. The three signings mark the beginning of Clark's first full recruiting class at Dayton.
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, a recent transfer from Joliet Junior College, was the recipient of the award for the National Junior College Athletics Association Division III level.
PLANES, TRAINS AND AUTOMOBILES UD will begin the season on a 25-game road swing taking them through two time zones and nine different states. In addition, the Flyers will play in five different tournaments before heading into conference play 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. |
