March 28, 2008

Complete Release in PDF Format

Despite winning seven of their last 10 games, the University of Dayton Flyers will attempt to pick up their first Atlantic 10 wins of the season when they host Temple and Saint Joseph's at the UD Softball Stadium. Dayton is 1-1 this season on their home field and have pounded out three home runs on their turf.

SCOUTING THE OWLS
The Temple Owls come into Friday with a 7-8 record this season. They are led by Natalie Wagner, a senior infielder from Grapevine, Texas. Wagner is hitting .400 with two homers, three doubles and 13 RBI's. Their top pitcher is senior Brianna Dairy. In 10 appearance, Dairy has accumulated a 2.50 ERA while striking out 24.

SCOUTING THE HAWKS
The Saint Joseph's Hawks are 4-11 this season and 1-1 in the A-10. They are led by sophomore Brooke Darreff. In 14 games, Darreff is hitting .553 with 21 hits and 13 RBI's. SJU's top pitcher is Lauren Conigni, a senior from Levittown, Penn. In 10 appearances she has thrown 7 complete games and has struck out 50 batters.

MATTHEWS NAMED A-10 PLAYER OF THE WEEK
It is safe to say Laura Matthews has really come alive in her senior year. At the EKU Invitational, Matthews racked up a .625 average going 5-of-8 and smacking two doubles and driving in three. For her efforts the Atlantic 10 awarded her Player of the Week honors on March 3. This is the first time a Flyer softball player has received this honors in over three years.

MEYER ONE OF A-10'S BEST
Atlantic 10 statistics show that Molly Meyer is one of the league's top hitters. Meyer is third in hits (38) among all of the A-10 teams. In addition, she is tied for third in runs with 21 and ranks first in total bases with 50.

MY OH MEYER
As a leadoff hitter, Meyer has 38 hits in 88 at-bats for a season batting average of .432. Meyer has also collected a team-high 50 bases this season and has an on base percentage of .474. She went 3-of-4 inside the batter's box in her second game against North Dakota and 2-of-3 against South Dakota State University. Meyer also went 2-of-3 in back-to-back games at the Panther Invitational. Lifetime she is batting a whopping .382 at the plate. If she continues this pace she will be the top hitter in Flyer history.

MACI'S DAY PARADE
Sophomore slugger Anne Maci has been making a name for herself at the plate. On February 9 against North Dakota, Maci was 2-of-3, collected one double and drove in two runs. On the very next day, she went 2-of-3 again this time driving one runner in against the Fighting Sioux. In UD's win over Tennessee State, Maci was 3-of-4 and collected four RBI's. Against IUPUI she hit two home runs and a walk off double to win the game in extra innings. She has amassed 23 RBI's this season, shattering her career-best mark of five. In addition to breaking her best career mark, Maci is currently in third among all active A-10 players for runs batted in during a season.

GOING YARD
With her home run against IUPUI on March 24, Blair Crabtree has climbed all the way up to fifth all-time in UD history. Crabtree has nine career home runs, she trails the third spot by only two.

SIXTEEN CANDLES
At the UNI Classic, Blair Crabtree went 2-for-3 in back-to-back games on her birthday February 9. She also collected one double, one RBI and crossed the plate twice. The icing on the cake was a .667 batting average on the day. Laura Matthews went 3-of-5 on her birthday March 2, smacking two doubles and tagging out the game-tying out to end the game against Appalachian State.

THE HITS KEEP COMING
Junior Mollie Schrank keeps piling up the hits for the Flyers. Schrank has 36 hits in 2008 moving her career total to 117 hits in 113 games.

"MOLL"ING IT OVER
In addition to her 117 career hits, Schrank has also placed herself third among all Flyers past and present in batting average. She is currently batting a lifetime average of .354.

THE ZIONSVILLE CANNON
Senior pitcher Erin Lafayette has thrown 124 career strikeouts. That total places her in sixth in Flyer history. Melissa Myher holds the all-time record for strikeouts in a career with 498. She has also pitched 284.1 innings, which places her seventh on UD's all-time list.

SEVEN KINDS OF SMOKE
While her 124 strikeouts are nothing to scoff at, Erin Lafayette is also one of the most efficient pitchers in Flyer history. LaFayette's has a current ratio of 3.05 strikeouts per 7 innings.

THAT'S A RAPPE!
Sophomore Eva Rappe knows a thing or two about sitting batters down. Last season Rappe collected 21 strikeouts in 63.2 innings pitched. In 76.1 innings pitched this season, she has already sent 26 batters back to the dugout with their heads hung, including four strikeouts against North Dakota on February 10 and six strikeouts again IPFW on March 25.

BULS ON PARADE
Leah Buls collected her first win in an 8-3 downing of Cleveland State on March 2. She has pitched 14.0 innings and struck out four this season.

SAVE-A-LOT
Eva Rappe can bring the heat, but lately she's been known best for icing batters at the end of a game. At the EKU Invitational Rappe stepped in and shut down the Eastern Kentucky offense collecting her first collegiate save. In the next game, she repeated her effort, this time keeping Cleveland State at-bay for her second straight save giving her the new record for saves in a single-season. She added to that total on March 19 when she collected the save against Colgate, breaking the school record for career saves.

MUSIC CITY MASHER
Laura Matthews has quietly shot up the charts to be one of the team's top hitters. Last season she had 13 hits in 32 games, but through 11 games this year Matthews has already cranked out 22 hits. Matthews is presently batting a blazing .344 at the plate.

CRIME AND PUNISHMENT
Senior catcher Laura Matthews has been a force behind the plate for the Flyers. Matthews has already thrown seven runners out that have dared to steal a base on her watch. This shatters last year's mark of five runners thrown out in 32 games.

KICKIN' WITH KJ
Coming into the season, junior Katie Jordan had only played stepped up to the plate 15 times in her entire career with a batting average of .067. Jordan has already been at-bat 49 times, collecting two doubles, 10 runs and six RBI's.

FEATS OF STRENGTH
Freshman Emily Stegeman is making an impact in her first season. Stegeman has 10 runs on 20 hits. However, more impressive are her eight RBI's and two doubles that she has already amassed. Stegeman ranks third on the teamin batting average. On the defensive side of the ball, Stegeman has made numerous acrobatic plays including a diving catch to end the inning against Eastern Kentucky and another leaping out to rob the Colonels of a sure base-hit.

COMING THROUGH IN THE CLUTCH
Sophomore Megan Lee has been a force in multiple games for the Flyers. Against North Dakota, Lee stepped in and hit a double bringing in two RBI's. Versus Tennessee State, Lee went 2-of-3 at the plate. Lee is batting .217 through 23 games with five sacrifices.

TOP THREE, THE PLACE TO BE
Through 25 games there is one thing that the Flyers do know, they can hit the ball. In fact, among Atlantic 10 foes, they rank second in batting with a .299 average. In addition, UD has collected 36 doubles which ranks them third in the A-10. Dayton is averaging 1.44 doubles per game.

PARTY STARTERS
If there is one thing the Flyers have a knack for, it is getting on the scoreboard early. The Flyers are outscoring their opponent in the opening two frames 46-25. UD is also outscoring the opposition 26-9 in the first inning.

THE EARLY BIRD GETS THE WORM
The beginning of the Flyers season on February 9 came 31 days earlier than last season. In that time, the Flyers played in 13 games. When everything was said and done the Flyers played in 21 contests before facing Atlantic 10 competition. Only two other A-10 teams started their season as early as UD this year.

DAYTON "D" HAVING A FIELD DAY
Some say the best defense is a good offense, but what's so bad about a good defense as well? UD ranks first among A-10 teams in fielding with a .973 fielding percentage. The Flyers are third in the A-10 for allowing the fewest errors. In addition, the Flyers have caught nine stealing already this season.

DAYTON PREDICTED TO FINISH TENTH IN ATLANTIC 10
A-10 Coaches have predicted that the University of Dayton Flyers softball team will finish tenth in Atlantic 10 play this season. This season 10 letter-winners return to the young Flyer squad.Rounding out the top six spots in the coaches poll are UMass, Fordham, Saint Louis, Charlotte, Temple and Saint Joseph's.

GOCKEN AMONG 2007 JUNIOR COLLEGE CATCHERS OF THE YEAR
Lyndsi Gocken was among 10 catchers named the 2007 Diamond Sports Catcher of the Year. The award, presented by the National Fastpitch Coaches Association and Diamond Sports, is given to the top catcher from NFCA member schools. Gocken, a recent transfer from Joliet Junior College, was the recipient of the award for the National Junior College Athletics Association Division III level.

PLANES, TRAINS AND AUTOMOBILES
UD began the season on a 25-game road swing taking them through two time zones and nine different states. In addition, the Flyers played in four different tournaments before heading into conference play at Charlotte in March. Over the course of the season they are expected to log more than 10,000 miles on the road round-trip.

SOFTBALL INKS THREE
University of Dayton Softball signed three new faces during the early signing period. Brandy Brown, Raime Cronkhite and Kristina Ortiz will don the red and blue for UD next season. Brandy Brown is a back-to-back All-County, All-Conference and All-District student-athlete in both 2006 and 2007. Cronkhite has helped her team to two City League Tournament Championships, as well as garnering All-District and All-Area Team honors in 2006 and 2007, and in her two previous seasons, Ortiz has been picked to the California Interscholastic Federation Southern Section's Second Team. Also in 2007, Ortiz was named CIF Second Team All-Area. The three signings mark the beginning of Clark's first full recruiting class at Dayton.

DYNAMIC DUO IN DISTANT LANDS
Last summer, sophomore Megan Lee and freshman Emily Stegeman traveled to China as part of a softball exhibition. The two of them traveled as part of the Miami Valley Xpress club team to promote softball for the 2008 Olympic Games that are held in Beijing this summer.

UD A NATIONAL LEADER IN LATEST GSR REPORT
The University of Dayton Division of Athletics maintained its position as one of the top academic achievers in the NCAA in the latest breakdown of the Graduation Success Rate data released in November. UD has an institutional GSR of 95 percent which ranks first among the Atlantic 10 Conference and 16th overall in the nation. Success in the classroom is nothing new for UD student-athletes. The Flyers combined cumulative grade point average is above a 3.0. In addition, UD has had 27 Academic All-Americans in the last six years. Also, at least one Dayton student-athlete has been named an Academic All-American for 22 straight years.