HIGHLAND HEIGHTS, Ky. – The Northern Kentucky University softball team will wrap up its five-game homestand on Wednesday when the Norse welcome Austin Peay to the Frank Ignatius Grein Softball Field for a nonconference doubleheader. First pitch is scheduled for 1 p.m.
Northern Kentucky University Norse (4-19)Austin Peay State University Lady Governors (6-19)April 1 – 1 p.m. (DH)
Frank Ignatius Grein Softball Field – Highland Heights, Ky.
Series History: Austin Peay leads, 2-0
First meeting: March 20, 2014 at APSU (APSU 5-1, 13-0)
#StartingNine – Tweetable Notes about NKU Softball this week Dani Devlin continues to stand as one of the top sluggers in the conference at .817, ranking third in the A-Sun. #PowerGame Devlin went 3-for-6 on Sunday against Lipscomb, adding a solo home run in the series finale. The first-inning bomb was her seventh of the season and second in A-Sun play. In conference-only games, Devlin is slugging .765 to rank ninth in the league and batting .412 to rank 11
th.
As a team, the Norse rank sixth in the A-Sun in slugging at .386. #GoingDeep Of the 130 hits the Norse have put together this season, 47 have gone for extra bases, including 30 doubles and 17 home runs. With more than half of the season's games remaining, NKU is well on pace to surpass their totals in those categories from last season, as the team compiled 33 doubles and 22 home runs on the year.
Paige McQueen has a pair of doubles in conference play to stand in a logjam at fourth in conference play. #SweetStroke The sophomore outfielder has hit well over the last two weeks, going 4-for-11 (.346) with a pair of runs scored in six conference games so far, including the two doubles.
The Norse hit back-to-back-to-back doubles to open the second inning of Sunday's finale against Lipscomb. #TradingPlaces McQueen and
Ashlynn Roberts each turned on the first pitch they saw for two base hits.
Nicolette Hayes followed up with a double of her own as well. The three extra-base hits in a single inning stand as a high water mark for the Norse during the 2015 season.
With her next pitching appearance, Alex Caudill will tie Emily Breithole for sixth all-time at NKU. #ClimbingTheRanks The senior hurler saw action in two of NKU's three games over the weekend, passing Jamie Moore (1998-2001) and Amanda Smith (2006-09), each at seventh with 95 appearances over their four-year careers.
Kate Bartolovich broke out of a slump on Sunday with a 2-for-3 game in the series finale against Lipscomb. #BackOnTrack The freshman strung together an eight-game hitting streak from March 11-21, including three two-hit performances over the stretch, but had not claimed a base hit since the opener at FGCU.
Allie Conner's two-run double in Sunday's finale against Lipscomb put some pop in the back end of the Norse lineup. #TurnItOver Conner doubled her RBI numbers on the season with a rip to centerfield that glanced off the glove of Lipscomb's Brittany Elmore. It was Conner's second two-base hit of the season.
Austin Peay is 8-19 on the season after dropping two of three at UT Martin over the weekend. #LadyGovs Rikki Arkansas leads the teams in batting despite a late start to her season, hitting .344 with eight runs scored, while Christiana Gable is right behind at .338 with five doubles, six home runs and a team-best 25 RBIs. Natalie Ayala leads the pitching staff, going 3-6 so far with a 7.21 ERA, while Allie Blackwood has a team-high 16 strikeouts.
#UpNext the Norse hit the road for a three-game Atlantic Sun Conference series at North Florida this weekend. The series begins Friday with a doubleheader beginning at 3 p.m. and concludes with a single contest on Saturday at 11 a.m. Links to live stats and the A-Sun.TV broadcast for Friday's doubleheader are available at NKUNorse.com.
