HIGHLAND HEIGHTS, Ky. – Northern Kentucky softball opens up the home schedule on Wednesday, March 22, when the Norse host Miami (Ohio) for a doubleheader at Grein Softball Field. First pitch against the RedHawks is scheduled for 2 p.m. ET.
LAST TIME OUT: The Norse split the weekend at the SIUE Tournament with wins over Butler and Toledo before dropping a pair to SIUE and Ball State. After starting the tournament with two wins, NKU had won three games in a row for the first time since April 13-14, 2013, when the Norse swept a series against ETSU.
Ashlynn Roberts led the Norse in the circle during the 5-1 win over Butler, pitching the full seven innings with a career-best seven strikeouts. Offensively, NKU tied its season high in hits, clubbing 12 against the Bulldogs led by a 3-or-4 effort from
Sydney Ferrante while
Kara Meter and
Dani Devlin went 2-for-3 from the dish. The Norse followed the game up with a 4-2 win over Toledo, with
Kate Bartolovich,
Ava Lawson and
Toree Stalter all going 2-for-3.
Vega Theophilus got the first win of her career, allowing just three hits and no runs in 5.0 innings pitched.
DOUBLE TROUBLE: NKU has ramped up its production when it comes to doubles compared to where the team was just a season ago. Twenty games into 2016, NKU had recorded 24 doubles on the season. This year, the Norse have posted 30 doubles to rank 44th in the nation and top the Horizon League with 1.50 doubles per game. Senior catcher
Dani Devlin leads the charge with .40 doubles per game, a number that not only leads the League but ranks 18th among all Division I players.
SCOUTING MIAMI: The defending Mid-American Conference champions graduated the 2016 MAC Player of the Year, but return Johniann Wahl for her sophomore campaign after earning NFCA All-Mideast Region honors as a freshman. Wahl is not flaunting as high a batting average as she did in her rookie campaign, batting .250 this year, but she does rank among the nation's top-40 and lead the MAC in home runs per game with seven so far. Miami's strong bats have been the team's trademark this season, as the RedHawks rank 13th in the nation with 1.17 homers a game paired with a .477 slugging percentage to rank 38th in the country. Leading the charge at the dish has been sophomore Michaela Schlattman, who is batting .380 and slugging .746, also pacing the team in doubles (8) and RBI (18). Miami's pitching rotates primarily between the trio of Shannon Hohman, Jaime Scher and Kelsey Fredericks, with Fredericks spending the most time in the circle at 53.2 innings. The senior has picked up the most wins with five throughout 18 appearances, but also holds the highest ERA of the three primary hurlers at 4.70.
This year, Miami holds a 12-11 record after having played multiple common opponents with the Norse. The RedHawks have gone 3-1 against competition from the Horizon League, the only loss being a 8-0 six-inning setback at the hands of League favorite UIC. Miami has also played Dayton, which took two off the Norse at the Georgia Classic, winning both meetings against the Flyers including the team's most recent outing on March 19 with a 3-2 victory in Oxford, Ohio. The RedHawks opened up the season against Butler, falling in a 13-12 high-hitting affair, a team that NKU defeated last weekend at the SIUE Tournament.
NKU has faced Miami five times in program history, all since transitioning to Division I in the 2011-12 season. The RedHawks hold a 4-1 edge over the Norse, with NKU's only win coming on April 28, 2015, when the Norse secured a 5-3 win at Grein Softball Field.
