DAYTON, Ohio - The University of Dayton softball team is heading to New York state for a two-game series at Atlantic 10 foe St. Bonaventure Friday afternoon. First pitch is set for noon tomorrow at SBU's Softball Diamond in Olean, N.Y. Friday's games kick off the Flyers' upcoming eight-game road swing leading into its final two regular season games at home on May 3.

ABOUT THE FLYERS
Dayton (18-24, 3-7 A-10) split its home doubleheader against Morehead State Wednesday, the Flyers' last home date heading into an eight-game road swing beginning at St. Bonaventure on Friday. Freshman Gabrielle Snyder had a great afternoon against the Eagles, going 3-for-4 at the plate and and picking up the game-two win in the circle.

Senior Alysha Isaacson leads the team with a .430 average at the plate and would lead the league but her 2.45 at bats/game doesn't meet minimum hitting requirements (2.5). Junior Tiffany Ricks has tallied a team-best 52 hits while also leading the team with 34 runs, 34 RBI, nine home runs and 90 total bases. Senior Kasi Vazquez has knocked out eight home runs and has taken a team-leading 24 bases on balls and has been hit six times. In the circle, sophomore Emily Froment holds the team's low ERA at 3.76 while senior Kayla English has recorded a team-best 98 strikeouts.

SCOUTING ST. BONAVENTURE
St. Bonaventure (5-15, 2-5 A-10) split its Atlantic 10 Conference series with George Washington on April 13 with a 5-3 win over the Colonials in the nightcap, snapping the Bonnies' five-game losing skid. SBU was set to square off against Youngstown State on Wednesday but the two-game set was canceled. Emily McDonough leads the Bonnies with a .415 average over 65 at bats.

SERIES STUFF
Dayton leads the all-times series 22-13 between the two squads. The Flyers and Bonnies last met May 4, 2013 at UD Softball Stadium with UD sweeping the regular-season conference series, 4-3 and 3-0.

LAST TIME OUT
Dayton hosted the Morehead State Eagles on Wednesday, splitting its two-game set with both a win and a loss of 4-3. Freshman Gabby Snyder went 3-for-4 at the plate while also tallying the win in the circle for the Flyers in game two. Senior Alysha Isaacson was 2-for-5 for the day with a home run and two RBI, extending her hitting streak to six games. Junior Natalie Mariano recorded a walk in each of the two games, bringing her on-base streak to a team-high-tying 14 games, equaling a streak set by senior Rachel Archer earlier in the season.

FOUR FLYERS ABOVE .300, FIFTH KNOCKING ON THE DOOR
Four players for the Flyers are currently hitting above the .300 mark, including senior Alysha Isaacson who is topping out at .430 (which would lead the A-10 but she does not meet the minimum hitting requirements). Junior Tiffany Ricks is second on the team with her average of .377 and senior Rachel Archer is right behind her at .370. Freshman Gabrielle Snyder does double duty with her .329 batting average to go with her 4.13 ERA. Junior Natalie Mariano hits at a .299 clip and is on the cusp of returning to the .300 club.

OFFENSIVE EXPLOSION
Senior Alysha Isaacson has recorded a hit in nine of the last 10 games and 16 of the last 18 games she has played. And her current six-game hitting streak is the team's longest active streak. Over the last 18 games, Isaacson has gone 30-for-58 (.517) at the plate with 12 doubles and three home runs while batting in 21 runs and scoring 13 runs herself. Isaacson has also twice been named the Atlantic 10 Co-Player of the Week over this stretch as well while posting a .556 on-base percentage and a .879 slugging percentage.

I'M GETTING ON
Junior Natalie Mariano has safely reached base in 14 consecutive games, a streak that ties senior Rachel Archer's season-best streak of 14 consecutive games of reaching base earlier this season. Junior Tiffany Ricks is next with an active on-base streak of seven straight games.

ALMOST PERFECT
Junior Kayla English recorded her first career no-hitter on March 27 in a 9-0 win at Wright State. She allowed only one base-runner, a walk late in the game, as she faced only 19 batters over sixth innings pitched and recorded five strikeouts on the night.

ISAACSON A-10 PLAYER OF THE WEEK, AGAIN
Isaacson, a senior from Chula Vista, Calif., earned her second consecutive A-10 weekly honor on April 7 after batting 12-for-21 (.571) over the previous week with two home runs, seven RBI and six runs scored to lead the Flyers. Isaacson recorded five multi-hit games for the week along with totaling six extra base hits. For the week, she posted an on-base percentage of .609 and a slugging percentage of 1.048.

UD PICKED TO FINISH SIXTH IN A-10
Dayton softball has been chosen to finish sixth in Atlantic 10 play this season, according to the preseason poll conducted by the league's 10 head coaches. Dayton tallied a school-record 12 wins in league action in 2013 and made the program's fifth appearance in the Atlantic 10 Conference Championship - coach LaPlaca's second appearance in the post-season tournament in the last three seasons. She guided her team to a 22-24 overall record - the program's best winning percentage (.478) since 2005 - and a 12-9 mark in league action. The Flyers finished the 2013 regular season in sixth place in conference standings.