HIGHLAND HEIGHTS, Ky. – With back-to-back nonconference road tournaments in the review mirror, the Northern Kentucky softball team opens Horizon League play with a pair of doubleheaders against Green Bay. The four-game set also serves as NKU's season-openers in its home venue at Frank Ignatius Grein Softball field. A noon start is on tap for both doubleheaders on March 12 and 13.
 
Game Information
Northern Kentucky University Norse (1-7 Overall, 0-0 Horizon League)
University of Wisconsin – Green Bay Phoenix (5-3 Overall, 0-0 Horizon League)
Friday, March 12 – Noon (ET) | 2 p.m.
Saturday, March 13 – Noon (ET) | 2 p.m.
Highland Heights, Ky. | Frank Ignatius Grein Softball Field (500)
Stats: Live Stats
­­***Northern Kentucky Athletics is unable to accommodate general admission attendance. Only home pass-list supporters are allowed in attendance.

Quick Hitters
• NKU begins the season 1-7 after picking up its first win of the season against Saint Louis, and dropping games against Southern Illinois, Creighton, and Saint Louis.
• The Norse have held leads in five of their eight matches this season.
• NKU is set to face Green Bay (four times) this coming weekend as league play begins. The set of games will also be the first home matchups for the Norse this season.
• In the all-time series against Green Bay, NKU is 6-6. The last match played against the Phoenix was played on April 13, 2019, when the Norse won 3-2. NKU has also won five of the last seven in the series.
• Northern Kentucky received 74 votes and was picked to finish third in the #HLSB preseason poll. This comes after NKU went 9-10 in the COVID-19-shortened 2020 season and went 22-33 with a 12-11 record in league play, good for a fourth-place league finish, in 2019.
• NKU ranked 94th nationally and second in the Horizon League with a fielding percentage of .963 last year. This season, the Norse hold a .964 fielding percentage which is good for 98th in the country.
• OF Ava Lawson has six hits on the season, five of them are of the extra-base variety (two doubles, one triple, two homeruns). Lawson's two long balls give her 18 for her career, which ties Katelyn Roy for sixth all-time in NKU's record book.
• Lawson, a career .313 hitter, is batting .261 so far this year.
• Freshman OF Ella LeMonier has worked her way into the Norse lineup, starting each of the last four games. She has a team-high .357 batting average and is coming off a 2-for-4 effort against Saint Louis.
• 3B/C Madi Mulder is second on the team with a .333 batting average.
• 2B Josie Frazier and OF Jenna O'Hair are hitting .321 and .316, respectively.
• Frazier leads the Norse with both nine hits and five runs scored in addition to being a perfect 3-for-3 in stolen-base attempts.
• O'Hair has three RBI and three runs scored to go along with a team-best .435 OBP.
• Mulder, Lawson, Kendyl McKeough, LeMonier, O'Hair and Frazier each have multi-hit games thus far for the Norse. Frazier leads the team with three multi-hit games.
• Freshman OF Megan Lenhart has started every game for NKU this season. She's hitting .158 with three doubles on as many hits for the Norse.
• 1B McKeough, a transfer from Eastern Illinois, had 18 hits on 60 at bats for the Panthers during the 2020 season. She also belted four home runs and 14 RBI's, which ranked second for EIU. McKeough cranked a grand slam to help lead NKU past Saint Louis last Saturday.
• Along with McKeough, eight newcomers join the Norse this season, including Maddie Lacer, Sydni Barnes, Madisyn Eads, Abby Moffet, LeMonier, Sophie Margelot, Arrington Walker and Lenhart.
 
Last Time Out
Northern Kentucky finished 1-3 this past weekend after matchups with Southern Illinois, Creighton, and Saint Louis (twice). The lone win, which came in game one against Saint Louis, is the first on the year for the Norse and moves them to 1-7 in nonconference play.

Scouting Green Bay
Green Bay is 5-3 on the season and currently on a three-game win streak. While on this win streak, it has defeated Chattanooga (twice) and Butler (once). The four-game series against the Norse will be the Phoenix's first conference matchups this season. In the all-time series between the teams, it is deadlocked at six wins apiece, with the most recent matchup being won by NKU, 3-2, in the 12^th inning on April 13, 2019.