Oct. 7, 2008

DAYTON, Ohio - The second season is well under way for University of Dayton Head Coach Cara Clark as she begins her sophomore campaign at the helm of the Flyer softball program. UD excelled with their first-year coach in 2008, posting a 20-win campaign for the first time in three seasons and more than doubled their Atlantic 10 win total from 2007.

A majority of the team's numbers improved vastly in one season under the direction of Clark, including batting average, hits, runs scored, on-base percentage, fielding percentage, sacrifices, home runs and slugging percentage.

Clark hopes to improve on those successes and advancements and used a tough 2008 fall schedule to help prepare her young squad for the 2009 season. The Flyers recently wrapped up fall ball in the Ohio State Collegiate Charity Classic that promoted breast cancer awareness.

The team got to meet former OSU and All-Pro NFL linebacker Chris Spielman, who spoke during the tournament, which benefited the Stefanie Spielman Fund for Breast Cancer Research at the Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital and Richard J. Solove Research Institute.

The Flyers competed well against two teams that qualified for the 2008 NCAA softball tournament (Ohio State and Wright State), took on two MAC teams (Miami, Ohio and Bowling Green) and got a solid look at different lineups for next spring. Seven freshmen join the squad for the '09 campaign and each had the opportunity to contribute and play their first collegiate softball games.

"The fall season allowed our incoming players to get some experience and reps," said Clark. "Our goal for the fall is to improve every day. These games allowed us to work on our overall offensive and defensive execution in a highly competitive atmosphere."

Dayton's historically strong defense continued to excel during fall ball and was led by veteran middle infielders Katie Jordan (2B) and Emily Stegeman (SS).

"Day in and day out our defense consistently makes plays," said Clark. "We return solid experience and leadership and the middle infield is the core."

The UD offense produced 2.4 runs per game, scoring three or more runs in four of its eight games.

"Our offense was a little inconsistent. We just have to learn to play more to our strengths," said Clark. "We have to continue to improve at the plate when we have runners on in key situations."

For the second consecutive season the Flyers will open their season at the UNI-Dome Tournament in Cedar Falls, Iowa on Feb. 7-8, 2009.