HIGHLAND HEIGHTS, Ky. – Northern Kentucky softball takes on the field at the Bruin Classic this weekend on Friday-Sunday, March 1-3, in Nashville. The Norse face off against host Belmont in their lone Friday game with first pitch scheduled for 2 p.m. CT/3 ET. NKU then faces regional foe Dayton at 10 a.m. CT/11 ET on Saturday, followed by a 4:45 p.m. CT/5:45 ET game against Alabama A&M. The Norse will face Dayton and Belmont once more on Sunday, at 11:15 a.m. CT/12:15 p.m. ET and 1:30 p.m. CT/2:30 ET, respectively.

LAST TIME OUT: The Norse went 2-2 at the UNCG Invitational, which was condensed to a two-day tournament and pushed back to Sunday and Monday due to weather in the Greensboro, North Carolina, area. On the first day, NKU dropped a pair of contests to Longwood and host UNCG, but stormed back to take both games of a doubleheader against Iona, 3-2 and 5-1. In the first game, Taylor Ginther pitched a career-high six strikeouts to help the Norse defeat the Gaels, while the second game was highlighted by a grand slam from Toree Stalter, the first of her career. Madi Mulder also had a strong weekend at the plate, batting .636 with a pair of RBI, while Josie Frazier was also batting above .400 with a pair of doubles, a run scored and one driven in.
 
SCOUTING BELMONT: The Bruins sit at 6-4 overall and are coming off a competitive 3-0 setback at No. 8 Georgia. Alicia Veltri is a double threat for Belmont as she leads the team with 35 strikeouts in the circle and is batting a team-leading .476 from the plate to go with 12 RBI. Five other Bruins are batting above .300, with Hayley Baker's four doubles and two home runs helping her drive in 10 runs for the team. Complementing Veltri in the circle is Brooklin Lee as both hold a 3-1 record and a 2.10 ERA, but Lee has spent 10.0 more innings in the circle for the Bruins and adds 30 strikeouts to her stat line. Belmont's defense has been strong in its opening games, holding a 2.26 ERA to rank 55th nationally. This weekend will mark the first meetings between the two programs.
 
SCOUTING DAYTON: The Flyers hold a 4-5 record on the young season, most recently suffering a five-inning, 8-0 loss at Chattanooga. Kyle Davidson paces the team with her .414 batting average and has scored a team-high nine runs for the Flyers while also ranking 14th in the nation with .89 stolen bases per game. Abby Ehrenborg, sporting a .308 batting average, is slugging .692 for the team with nine runs driven in and has clubbed the only three home runs for Dayton this season. Dayton's pitching staff is made up primarily of Jessica Gilliam, Jessica Weaver and Catherine Jensen, with Gilliam and Weaver both spending 20.0 and 22.0 innings in the circle, respectively. Gilliam holds a 2.10 ERA to lead the hurlers and has struck out 14 batters this season. Dayton holds a 15-12 advantage in the all-time series and has won all five meetings since NKU transitioned to Division I. The two teams last met in on April 25, 2017, where the Flyers took both games of a doubleheader in Dayton, Ohio.
 
SCOUTING ALABAMA A&M: The Bulldogs sport a 7-4 record, most recently sweeping Tuskegee in a doubleheader on Feb. 26. Tamia Lee-Barbadillo is the headliner for the team as she is slugging .912 on the season with 15 runs driven in, good for fifth in the nation. Her five home runs also put her at eighth nationally and she also leads the team with 11 runs scored. Alabama A&M has eight players batting over .300 and the team has proven to be effective in notching extra-base hits with 1.56 doubles and 1.00 home runs per contest. Junior Danielle Hansell is also the toughest player to strike out in the nation as she has not been fanned yet this season, and she is also the team's most effective pitcher with a 2.15 ERA in 26.0 innings pitched. Saturday will mark the first meeting between the two teams.