HIGHLAND HEIGHTS, Ky. – Northern Kentucky's softball team plays its first home game in 17 days when it hosts Horizon League opponent UIC at 4 p.m. Friday. The Norse and Flames also play a double-header Saturday (1 p.m., 4 p.m.) at Frank Ignatius Grein Softball Field.

All three games in the series will be shown on ESPN+
 
QUICK HITTERS
• The Norse had a nine-day layoff between games due to weather-related postponements and cancellations but returned for a 4-2 defeat at Dayton March 29. The Norse overcame a one-run deficit to win their 12th game this season - and fifth on the road.
 
• NKU lost seven straight games earlier this season but snapped the skid with a 4-2 home victory over Western Illinois, March 15. Kendyl McKeough hit the first of two home runs in the bottom of the first inning and the Norse, bolstered by pitching, defense and McKeough's bat, prevailed.
 
• Since losing seven straight, NKU has won four of its last five games. It has outscored opponents 19-7 in its last four victories.
 
• Northern Kentucky received 39 votes and was picked to finish sixth in the #HLSB preseason poll. Oakland, the preseason favorite, received two first place nods among its 82 total votes. Second place Youngstown State (81 points) had five first-place votes.
 
• Kendyl McKeough is a leader on the team and in the Horizon League. The senior ranks first in the conference in doubles (8) and home runs (8) and is second in hits (30), RBI (18), slugging percentage (.729) and OPS (on-base plus slugging percentage; 1.140). She's third in runs scored (18) and sixth in at-bats (85) and batting average (.353).
 
• Kendyl McKeough delivered NKU's most recent walk-off home run. Tennessee Tech scored two runs in the top of the seventh inning of their Blue Hose Invitational game Feb. 12 to knot the score at six. Enter Keough with the game-winning homer for the 6-5 Norse victory.
 
• Just three games into the season, Tatum Biddle matched an NKU record that had not been replicated since 2009. Biddle had two triples in the five-inning, 21-1 rout of South Carolina State in the Blue Hose Invitational Feb. 12. The last Norse player who had two or more triples in a game was Rose Broderick, who collected two triples against Bellarmine on April 25, 2009.  Biddle leads the Horizon League in triples with two.
 
• Ella LeMonier has amassed seven stolen bases thus far, good for sixth in the Horizon League.  Her 14 runs scored check in at ninth and her three sacrifice bunts rank 10th.
 
SCOUTING UIC: The Flames (4-18, 1-6 Horizon League) are winless on the road (0-8) this season and have lost three straight games heading into the Norse series. Tara McElligott ranks among the league's Top 10 in batting average (.321), slugging percentage (.589), OBP (.457) and OPS (1.046). Top pitcher Christina Toniolo (2-9) has a 3.43 ERA in 63 innings pitched. She has struck out 40 and walked 24.