HIGHLAND HEIGHTS, Ky. – Northern Kentucky softball remains in Florida for its final preseason spring tournament and will play five different opponents as part of THE Spring Games. NKU will first face LIU on Thursday, March 12 at 2 p.m. ET. On Friday, March 13, the Norse take on Niagara at 1:30 p.m. and Eastern Illinois at 4 p.m. The tournament wraps up on Saturday, March 14, with games against North Florida at 11:30 a.m. and Manhattan at 1:30 p.m. All games of THE Spring Games will be streamed via FloSoftball, with plans starting at $12.49 a month.
 
LAST TIME OUT: The Norse went 2-3 at the Hatter Classic, picking up wins over Fairfield and Stetson. Taylor Ginther pitched the first shutout of the season as the Norse posted a 3-0 victory over the Hatters, while Faith Howard picked up a save in an 8-1 win over Fairfield.
 
LEAGUE HONORS: In their first weekend back on the field this season, seniors Taylor Hoover and Ginther hauled in Horizon League weekly honors. Hoover was named the Horizon League Player of the Week after batting .500 and slugging .917 at the Bruin Challenge, while Ginther was named the Co-Pitcher of the Week after going 2-0 with a 1.00 ERA and eight strikeouts thrown in 14.0 innings pitched. Ginther picked up the honor for the second time on March 2 after a pair of wins in 16.0 innings of work and a 0.88 ERA at the Coach B Classic.
 
CLASS ACT: On Feb. 18, senior center fielder Lawson was named one of 30 national candidates for the 2020 Senior CLASS Award. An acronym for Celebrating Loyalty and Achievement for Staying in School, the award focuses on the total student-athlete and encourages students to use their platform in athletics to make a positive impact as leaders in their communities, highlighting the four Cs of community, classroom, character and competition. The 30 candidates will be narrowed down to 10 finalists midway through the regular season, after which those 10 names will be placed on an official ballot to be distributed through a nationwide vote for media, coaches and fans.
 
SCOUTING LIU: The Sharks hold a 12-12 mark on the year, but enter the weekend riding a five-game winning streak. LIU's last loss was a 2-0 setback to Creighton, which NKU defeated in a 7-1 decision on March 1. Kiana Cisneros leads the Sharks with the only batting average above .300, going .324 at the plate with 24 hits and six RBI. The junior infielder is one of three Sharks with four or more doubles on the year. In the circle, Elena Valenzuela and Tallie Woodson have put in a combined 130.1 innings of work in out of 15.71 total innings, with each earning five wins on the year. Prior to LIU's unification of its Brooklyn and Brookville campuses, NKU had played one game against LIU Brooklyn in program history, dropping a 6-1 contest to the Blackbirds on March 4, 2018.   
 
SCOUTING NIAGARA: The Purple Eagles have seen limited action this year, posting a 2-5 record with wins over Penn and Horizon League foe Detroit Mercy. Niagara is coming off four losses, three of which were decided in five innings. Shayna Myshrall leads the team at the plate in her rookie season, batting .364 and slugging .636 with eight hits and five runs batted in. Senior Emily Johnston brings experience to the circle as she has one of the team's wins and holds a 0.93 ERA, a stark contrast to the pitching staff's overall ERA of 10.20. Northern Kentucky has met with Niagara once in program history, coming away with a 2-1 win on Feb. 24, 2013.
 
SCOUTING EASTERN ILLINOIS: The Panthers have gone 4-5 since they last played the Norse at the Coach B Classic, which includes both a win and a loss versus Horizon League opponent Green Bay. Four players are batting at or above .300, led by Mia Davis with a .343 batting average courtesy of 23 hits. Hannah Cravens is also above the .300 mark with a .333 batting average and has driven in a team-high 20 runs. Jade Montgomery has spent the most time in the circle for the Panthers, pitching 68.2 innings and picking up six wins with a 3.57 ERA. The Norse could also see Taylor Florea, who has appeared in 15 games, or Cravens, who has pitched in eight contests. Eastern Illinois holds a 4-0 record against the Norse in the all-time series, including a pair of wins earlier in the season, 8-3 and 10-6(8).
 
SCOUTING NORTH FLORIDA: The Ospreys are 11-6 on the year and come into the weekend riding a five-game win streak that includes a 3-2 victory over No. 19/20 Virginia Tech. Shannon Glover leads the North Florida bats with a .459 batting average, which is good for 35^th in the nation, while Rebecca Koskey is not far behind at .438 and 62^nd nationally. The Ospreys' lineup also features Ashley Goebel, who is the 18^th-toughest player to strike out in the nation. North Florida spreads out the innings pitched between its hurlers, with Morgan Clausen spending a team-high 49.0 innings in the circle with five wins on the year. Alyssa Dyhr has yet to pick up a loss with a 4-0 record in 10 appearances, and both Skyler Stockie and Hailey Raulerson have appeared in nine games. NKU has played its former Atlantic Sun Conference opponent nine times in program history, going 2-7 against the Ospreys. The last time the two teams met was in a three-game series won by North Florida on April 3-4, 2015.  
 
 
SCOUTING MANHATTAN: The Jaspers hold a 6-6 record and have put up some impressive numbers through 12 games.  Offensively, Manhattan ranks third nationally with 0.75 triples and fourth with 2.17 doubles per game, while also boasting the sixth-highest batting average at .357. Annie Moore has been leading the way with a .476 batting average, ranking 25^th nationally, with 20 hits, nine of which were extra-base, 17 RBI and 11 runs scored. Kaitlyn Flood and Christine Gebhardt are also batting above .400 on the year, combining for 32 hits and 14 runs driven in. The Jaspers are another team that spreads its pitching duties out, with Nicole Williams leading the staff at 25.2 innings pitched and a 1.91 ERA. Jessie Rising leads the team with three wins in six appearances, including one shutout. Saturday will mark the first meeting between the two teams.