Midweek game notes
HIGHLAND HEIGHTS, Ky. – The Northern Kentucky University softball team takes on Marshall for a midweek non-conference doubleheader on Wednesday at Dot Hicks Field in Huntington, W.Va.
The Norse (7-28) will look to snap their seven-game losing streak after being swept at home by Atlantic Sun Conference foe Jacksonville. Marshall enters the week with a 25-13 record prior to a Tuesday meeting against Kentucky. The Thundering Herd has won 15 of its last 16 games dating back to a 5-1 victory at Radford on March 13.
Live stats and video links for each game will be available at nkunorse.com.
MARSHALL SCOUTING REPORT: The Thundering Herd boast one of the more top pitchers in Division I in Andi Williamson, who enters the week's play with a 24-12 record and a 2.27 earned run average. Her 270 strikeouts on the season lead all Division I pitchers nationally. Offensively, the Herd likes to run, ranking fourth in the nation in stolen bases per game (2.26), paced by Kaelynn Greene, who has swiped 22 bags in 25 attempts. Ashley Gue's .330 batting average leads the team, while Alysia Hively has a team-best seven home runs.
Freshman Shaelynn Braxton was named the Conference USA Hitter of the Week for her performance last weekend against Houston, going 5-for-11 with a pair of home runs, four runs scored and eight RBIs.
Wednesday's doubleheader will mark the first meeting between the Norse and Thundering Herd.
SCHWAEBLE MAKES HISTORY: Emily Schwaeble's solo home run in Game 2 of Saturday's doubleheader against Jacksonville put her in the record books as NKU's career home runs leader. The senior pitcher and outfielder now claims 32 career long balls, surpassing Ashley Gates' total of 31, hit from 2009-11. Schwaeble had tied the career mark the previous weekend at Stetson in NKU's 3-1 win over the Hatters.
Schwaeble also climbed to No. 3 in the career strikeout rankings at NKU, passing Emily Breitholle's 539 punchouts from 2002-05. Schwaeble has fanned 548 batters in her career entering Wednesday's doubleheader.
STRALEY AND DAVIS SET THE TABLE: KC Straley and
Dee Dee Davis have occupied the top two spots in most of
Kathy Stewart's lineups lately, and last weekend both were effective in setting the table for the middle of the Norse lineup. The two combined for seven hits, including three doubles, and a walk in the weekend series against Jacksonville.
BACK TO BACK AGAIN: The Norse hit back-to-back home runs for a second time this season, the latest against Jacksonville in the second inning of a 4-2 defeat.
Alexis VanHorn was again involved, claiming the first home run of the pair before
Dana Jarboe clubbed her first career home run, a towering fly ball that crashed off the scoreboard at the Frank Ignatius Grein Softball Field.
