DAYTON CONTINUES 10-GAME ROAD SWING AT TOLEDO
In the middle of a 10-game road swing, the Dayton Flyers will visit the Toledo Rockets on Wednesday beginning at 3 p.m. ET. UD is looking to regain its winning ways heading into a critical slate of games this weekend at Rhode Island and Massachusetts. The Flyers showcase one of the best offenses in the Atlantic 10 hitting .281 as a team. With two more victories, UD will have its first 20-win season in three years.

SCOUTING THE ROCKETS
The Rockets conversely are in the middle of a 14-game homestand. So far Toledo is 3-5 during that span with wins over Youngstown State, Wright State and Eastern Michigan. Senior Leslie Strong leads the Toledo attack batting .386 with three homers and 20 RBI. The Rockets can also run on the base paths converting 39 of 42 stolen base attempts. Junior Brie Ford leads the team with 12 swipes.

FLYERS ADD TWO MORE TO 2008-09 RECRUITING CLASS
Head coach Cara Clark and the University of Dayton softball team added two more future Flyers to the 2008-2009 recruiting class on April 10 inking Courtney Kutsulis and Lauren Nacke to National Letters of Intent. With the latest additions Dayton has now added five total players to the 2008-2009 recruiting class. Clark and her staff inked Brandy Brown, Raime Cronkhite and Kristina Ortiz all to letters of intent during the early signing period last fall. The five signings mark the beginning of head coach Cara Clark's first full recruiting class at Dayton.

MEYER ONE OF A-10'S BEST
Atlantic 10 statistics show that Molly Meyer is one of the league's top hitters. As of April 14, Meyer leads the A-10 in hits (52) after collecting five versus George Washington. In addition, she leads the conference in total bases with 64 and is tied for third in runs scored with 31.

MY OH MEYER
As a leadoff hitter, Meyer has 52 hits in 133 at-bats for a season batting average of .391. Meyer has an on base percentage of .456 and is hitting .428 in her last four games. She went 3-of-4 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. At George Washington she hit 4-for-5 in the second game driving in one run and scoring one. During her UD career, she has hit a whopping .359 at the plate ranking her fourth all-time at Dayton.

MACI'S DAY PARADE
Sophomore slugger Anne Maci has been making a name for herself at the plate. Maci smashed a home run at George Washington in A-10 play. 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 27 RBI's this season, shattering her career-best mark of five. In addition to breaking her best career mark, Maci is currently fifth in the A-10 for runs batted in.

GOING YARD
With her home run against La Salle on April 6, Blair Crabtree has climbed all the way up to third all-time in UD history with 11 homers. In addition, Crabtree ranks second in the Atlantic 10 with 31 RBI's.

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 49 hits in 2008 moving her career total to 130 hits in 127 games. Schrank also leads the team with 10 stolen bases and is third in the nation with 17 sacrifice hits this season.

"MOLL"ING IT OVER
In addition to her 130 career hits, Schrank has also placed herself fourth among all Flyers past and present in batting average. She is currently batting .342 in her UD career.

THE ZIONSVILLE CANNON
Senior pitcher Erin Lafayette has thrown 154 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 332 innings, which places her sixth on UD's all-time list. LaFayette has struck out 63 so far this season.

SEVEN KINDS OF SMOKE
While her 154 strikeouts are nothing to scoff at, Erin Lafayette is also one of the most efficient pitchers in Flyer history. LaFayette has a current ratio of 3.3 strikeouts per seven 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 110 innings pitched this season, she has already sent 49 batters back to the dugout with their heads hung, including four strikeouts against North Dakota on February 10, six strikeouts against IPFW and four more in games against Temple and Saint Joseph's.

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 as one of the team's top hitters. Last season she had 13 hits in 32 games, but through 39 games this year Matthews has already cranked out 36 hits. Matthews is presently batting a blazing .353 at the plate. She also hit her fourth career home run against Ohio. It was the first time Matthews hit a home run since April 23, 2006.

MATTHEWS NAMED A-10 PLAYER OF THE WEEK ON MARCH 3
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 was the first time a Flyer softball player has received this honor in over three years.

CRIME AND PUNISHMENT
Senior catcher Laura Matthews has also been a force behind the plate for the Flyers. Matthews has already thrown 13 runners out that have dared to steal a base on her watch. She has more than doubled her career mark this season which was previously set at nine thrown out.

KICKIN' WITH KJ
Coming into the season, junior Katie Jordan had only stepped up to the plate 15 times in her entire career with a batting average of .067. Jordan has already been at-bat 82 times, collecting three doubles, 13 runs and six RBI's.

FEATS OF STRENGTH
Freshman Emily Stegeman is making an impact in her first season. Stegeman has 14 runs on 29 hits. She is hitting .284 and has started all 39 games. However, more impressive are her 12 RBI's and her ranking fourth on the team in batting average. 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. With two outs and one runnner on base, Lee smacked her first collegiate home run win the game for Dayton 2-1 over Saint Joseph's. 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 .228 through 37 games with six sacrifices. Lee has also not made an error in right field, her first season playing the position.

BULS ON PARADE
Freshman Leah Buls collected her first win in an 8-3 downing of Cleveland State on March 2. She has pitched 15.0 innings and struck out five this season.

DESIGNATED PUNISHER
As a designated player Allie Falk has collected 18 hits and three doubles. Falk most notably hit a grand slam home run against Fordham on April 5. Not only was it the first grand slam of her collegiate careeer, but it was also the first home run at UD.

TOP THREE THE PLACE TO BE
Through 39 games there is one thing that the Flyers do know, they can hit the ball. In fact, among Atlantic 10 foes, they rank third in batting with a .281 average. In addition, UD has collected 44 doubles which ranks them fourth in the A-10. Dayton is averaging 1.13 doubles per game. Last year Dayton hit .233 with only 30 doubles.

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 61-51. UD is also outscoring the opposition 32-25 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 leads the Atlantic 10 with a .974 fielding percentage. The Flyers are second in the A-10 for allowing the fewest errors. In addition, the Flyers have caught 15 stealing already this season.

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 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 playing 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.

DAYTON PREDICTED TO FINISH TENTH IN ATLANTIC 10
Atlantic 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.

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.