HIGHLAND HEIGHTS, Ky. – Northern Kentucky softball travels to Martin, Tennessee, for the final tournament leading up to Horizon League play. The Norse will face Akron and UT-Martin two times apiece in the Skyhawk Hampton Inn Classic, March 17-18. Both days will feature a 10 a.m. CT/11 a.m. ET game against the Zips before a 3 p.m. CT/4 p.m. ET first pitch against the host Skyhawks.
LAST TIME OUT: NKU went 3-2 at the USF Under Armour Showcase, picking up wins over Robert Morris, Rider and Seton Hall. The Norse shone in their victory over Seton Hall, plating 11 runs and registering 15 hits in the 11-7 victory.
Sydney Ferrante led NKU throughout the week, driving in nine runs and batting .588 with a pair of doubles and home runs.
Alexis McDaniel also had a high batting average at .455, and
Madi Mulder was .368 with seven hits, four RBI and two doubles. In the circle,
Ashlynn Roberts held opponents to a 1.95 ERA and a .220 batting average.
FERRANTE ON FIRE: Sydney Ferrante was named the Horizon League Player of the Week on March 12, marking the first time since the 2005 season that NKU had players honored in consecutive weeks after
Madi Mulder and
Taylor Ginther swept League honors on March 5.
Ferrante had a remarkable week at the plate during the USF Under Armour Showcase, batting .591 and slugging 1.000 over seven games. The senior third baseman went 13-for-22 and had 10 RBI, nine of which came in the last five games at the USF Under Armour Showcase, March 9-11. Ferrante scored seven runs and clubbed three doubles and a pair of homers, which moved her up in the all-time career doubles and home runs list as she now holds the fifth spot in doubles (38) and sixth in home runs (14). Her strongest game came against Seton Hall on March 9, when she went 3-for-3 with five RBI courtesy of a home run and two doubles. In the last three games of the week, Ferrante went 8-for-10 from the plate and had a 1.600 slugging percentage.
SEASON NOTABLES: NKU finds itself among the Horizon League's top statistics in several categories early on in the season. The Norse lead the League with 1.31 doubles per game, rank second in the league in scoring, with 4.44 runs per game, batting average (.288), ERA (3.97) and double plays per game (.38), and rank third in slugging percentage (.357). Individually,
Sydney Ferrante leads the League and is No. 58 nationally with 1.06 RBI per game, with
Madi Mulder right behind her in the Horizon standings with .94 RBI a game. Ferrante is also ranked second nationally with four sac flies and is No. 37 in the nation with .38 doubles per contest. Her .627 slugging percentage is good for second among Horizon League players.
Josie Frazier is topping the League with runs scored, crossing the plate 14 times this year (.88 per game), and she also ranks 19th nationally with .31 sacrifice hits per game.
SCOUTING AKRON: The Zips have notched just one win this season at 1-16-1, with the lone victory by way of a 1-0 shutout against Fort Wayne on Feb. 18. Sydney Jascoe leads Akron at the plate with a .313 batting average and has driven in six of the Zips' 30 runs on the year. Kimberly Rodriguez has scored the most runs for the team, with six, and is a threat along the base path with 10 stolen bases, ranking 41st nationally. Akron's pitching staff holds a 6.15 ERA, with Mikayla Newland holding the lowest of the hurlers with a 5.47 ERA. Newland has tossed five complete games this season and recorded the team's only win. She has struck out 27 batters in 48.2 innings pitched.
SCOUTING UT-MARTIN: The Skyhawks enter their home tournament with an 11-14 mark. Two standout statistics for the team are an indicator of UT-Martin's speed, as the Skyhawks rank 21st nationally in both double plays per game (0.50) and stolen bases per game (1.96). However, the Skyhawks are at the bottom of the Ohio Valley Conference in scoring, plating just 3.21 runs per game, which is just about half a run's advantage over its ERA (2.74). UT-Martin relies heavily on a duo of pitchers who have pitched a combined 146.1 innings out of 167.2 innings played, with Hannah Ridolfi spending the most time in the circle to post a 2.23 ERA with 28 strikeouts. Caitlin Karo has fanned 24 batters and holds a 1.75 ERA and has pitched two shutouts for the Skyhawks this season. At the plate, Jodie Duncan, Aeron Smith and Alli Fulcher have all driven in at least 11 runs for the team and are all batting above .300, with Fulcher scoring 13 runs of her own.
