DAYTON - The University of Dayton softball team will open the Atlantic 10 portion of its 2018 schedule a day early due to forecasted winter weather. Dayton and Fordham will square off on Friday, March 23 at UD Softball Stadium to kick off league play. First pitch between the Flyers and Rams is set for 3 p.m. and the squads will attempt to play two games Friday.

About Dayton
Dayton (8-14) went 4-2 last week after getting its offense back on track with a 13-4, five-inning win at Wright State on Thursday, March 15. The Flyers enter Atlantic 10 Conference play with a 3.22 ERA (2nd A-10) and 121 pitching strikeouts (2nd A-10). UD is led offensively by junior Kyle Davidson with a .311 average, 19 hits and 13 runs scored while freshman Abby Ehrenborg has tallied a team-best 16 RBI and three home runs. In the circle, senior Manda Cash (3-4) leads the Flyer pitching corps with a 1.56 ERA (1st A-10) and 65 strikeouts (1st A-10) over 58.1 innings pitched.

Scouting Fordham
Fordham (9-15) is coming off a 3-1 weekend at home after picking up wins over UMass Lowell, Seton Hall and Detroit Mercy. The Rams have played a tough non-conference schedule, including give games against top 25 teams. Fordham is led by Chelsea Skrepenak with a .333 average and Skylar Johnston with 25 hits while Madi Shaw has collected 20 RBI. Paige Rauch (5-1) holds the team's low ERA of 1.89 and Madie Aughinbaugh has dealt 38 strikeouts.

Series Stuff
Dayton and Fordham have previously met 50 times in the all-time series between the two programs with each squad claiming 25 wins. The series dates back to 1996 and the Rams have won the last four meetings, including a series sweep at Fordham last season.

RPI Rankings
In the NCAA's first Rating Percentage Index (RPI) for the 2018 season, released on March 18, Dayton came in at 223 according to NCAA.com. Fordham is ranked 165.

Star in the Circle
Senior Manda Cash, the 2016 A-10 Pitcher of the Year, has already made her mark on the Dayton record book and continues to climb the rankings. She  became Dayton's all-time career strikeouts leader on the first day of the 2018 season and now has 619 career strikeouts. Additionally, Cash's 4.07 strikeout-to-walk ratio is the all-time best career average and her career ERA of 1.88 and 42 career wins ranks fourth all-time in program history.

Walk This Way
Senior Kailee Budicin has taken a base on balls 11 times (t-7th) this season and has tallied 61 walks for her career, which ranks fifth all-time in program history.

Catch Me If You Can
As a team, Dayton is 22-for-26 in stolen bases on the season - the 22 stolen bases rankes second in the Atlantic 10. Freshman Briley Sidor has stolen six bases (t-5th) to lead the Flyers while juniors Kyle Davidson and Lisa Tassi have four apiece this season. For her career, junior Kelly Fitzgerald is 9-for-11 in stolen bases and her .818 stolen base percentage ranks seventh all-time.

So Offensive
Three everyday players account for 40 percent of all hits recorded by the Flyers so far this season: junior Kyle Davidson (19), senior Kailee Budicin (16) and freshman Abby Ehrenborg (14).

You Look Familiar
Senior infielder Kailee Budicin has played in 173 games with 170 starts as a Flyer. She is on pace to shoot up through the Dayton top 10 list for career games played this season with the possibility of setting a new program record. The current record holder, Natalie Mariano (2012-15) played in 203 career games. Budicin has started in 163 consecutive games for the Flyers.

Bring Me Home
Freshman Abby Ehrenborg leads the team and is tied for eighth in the A-10 with 16 RBI this season. Ehrenborg has posted five multiple RBI games in 2018 including five RBI at Wright State on March 15.

#Winning
Dayton head coach Cara LaPlaca tallied her 233rd career win at UD on April 15, 2017 at La Salle, surpassing former Flyer head coach Jodi Eickemeyer as Dayton's all-time winningest coach. She now has 247 wins at UD.