HIGHLAND HEIGHTS, Ky. – Northern Kentucky's softball team returns home after a seven-game road swing to host Detroit Mercy in a final Horizon League home stand.
 
The Norse face the Titans at 4 p.m. Friday at Frank Ignatius Grein Softball Field. The teams return Saturday for a doubleheader at 1 p.m. and 3:30 p.m. All three games will be shown on ESPN+.
 
NKU (20-26, 9-12 Horizon League) will celebrate Senior Day on Saturday and introduce its seniors and their families before the 1 p.m. outing.
 
QUICK HITTERS
• NKU went 4-3 with series wins over Youngstown State and IUPUI in its seven-game road swing.
 
• The Norse have reached the 20-win threshold for the first time since 2019. NKU has won as many as 24 games in a season (2018) in coach Kathryn Gleason's seven-year tenure.
 
• NKU ended its previous home stand April 12 with a momentous 5-4 home win over Marshall. It was a program-first victory over the Thundering Herd.
 
• NKU won in extra innings in the first game of an April 5 doubleheader at Cleveland State. The Norse prevailed 4-3 in nine innings. It was the program's first extra-innings victory since Feb. 15, 2020 against Western Michigan, a game NKU won 7-6 in eight innings.
 
• Kendyl McKeough leads the Horizon League in home runs (10) and RBI (29). She's second in doubles (13), third in hits (44), and fourth in at-bats (139), slugging percentage (.617) and OPS (1.005). The senior ranks fifth in runs scored (25).
 
• Olivia Pastin hit her first collegiate home run April 12 against Marshall and made a dazzling catch at Youngstown State April 16. She saved a two-run home run by catching a deep fly ball over the left field fence. The defensive play made SportsCenter's Top 10, checking in at No. 6.
 
• Lauryn Hicks was honored by the Horizon League with the 2022 Bobby Fong Award for representing the conference's core values of integrity, respect and leadership. The junior leads the Norse in strikeouts (111), including 11 in a 10-1 defeat of IUPUI April 22.
 
• Alicia Flores pitched her first collegiate shutout in NKU's 1-0 walk-off triumph over Robert Morris on April 10. The freshman tossed a two-hitter and struck out 11 while walking just one. Arrington Walker hit the game-winning RBI, singling up the right side to plate Maddie Lacer.
 
• Tatum Biddle leads the Horizon League in triples (3). She hit two in the five-inning, 21-1 rout of South Carolina State in the Blue Hose Invitational Feb. 12.
 
• Ella LeMonier ranks fourth in the Horizon League in stolen bases (13).
 
SCOUTING DETROIT MERCY: The Titans enter the series with a 4-32 (4-17 Horizon League) record and ranks last in the conference standings. The team lost its first 24 games this season, including 11 in conference play, before beating Green Bay 4-0 on April 2. Senior McKenna Tanguay leads the Titans in home runs (4), doubles (5), runs (13), walks (15), slugging percentage (.442), and total bases (42). She ranks second in hits (25), stolen bases (2) and third in batting average (.263). Pitcher Liz Murphy, a graduate student, leads Detroit Mercy in strikeouts (56), starts (23), appearances (26), complete games (17) and innings pitched (134.2).