DAYTON - The University of Dayton softball team is set for two midweek road games, one each at Kentucky and Ohio State this week. Dayton will take on ^RV/23Kentucky Tuesday at 6 p.m. at the Wildcats' John Cropp Stadium followed by a 4 p.m. matchup against Ohio State Wednesday at Buckeye Field.

ABOUT DAYTON
Dayton (13-11) is coming off a 1-2 weekend against George Mason in the Flyers' home-opening series. With its 3-3 Atlantic 10 record, UD is tied for fourth place in league standings. The Flyers' offense is led by junior Maddie Kapsimalis (.333) with 24 hits, five doubles, 18 RBI and 15 walks while graduate student Emily Daniel has 17 runs scored, 18 RBI and 17 stolen bases. In the circle for UD, sophomore Izzy Kemp (7-5) carries the team's low ERA of 2.27 with 78 strikeouts over 77.0 innings pitched.

SCOUTING KENTUCKY
Kentucky (20-11) was in Gainesville last weekend and dropped a three-game Southeastern Conference series to 10th-rnaked Florida and the Wildcats will return to league action this weekend when they welcome Alabama to Lexington. Over a team-high 94 at bats, Rylea Smith carries a .383 average with 36 hits and is a perfect 8-for-8 in stolen bases while Erin Coffel (.337) has belted out 10 home runs, collected 24 RBI, drawn 21 walks and been hit 12 times. Stephanie Schoonover (10-5) leads the Cats' pitching corps with a 2.53 ERA and 96 strikeouts in 78.2 innings of work.

SCOUTING OHIO STATE
Ohio State (17-10) opened Big Ten Conference play with a 2-1 series loss at Rutgers this past weekend, picking up the 11-9 win the nightcap of Friday's doubleheader. After Wednesday's game, the Buckeyes will continue a six-game homestand with a three-game series against Northwestern. OSU has six everyday players hitting .310 or above led by Tegan Cortelletti (.471) who leads the team with 33 hits, 22 runs scored and 11 stolen bases. Allison Smith (11-6) boasts the team's best ERA of 2.15 and she has recorded 69 strikeouts over 75.0 innings.

SERIES STUFF
Kentucky leads, 9-3
Dayton and Kentucky played the first seven games of the all-time series over the course of the 1997, '98 and '99 seasons but most recently squared off on March 8, 2023 in Lexington. The Wildcats came from behind to best the Flyers, 5-4, after scoring three runs in the bottom of the sixth.

Ohio State leads, 14-2
The Buckeyes have won the last three matchups in the series, including a 17-6 (5) victory last season on March 29th at UD Softball Stadium. OSU and UD's first meeting was a neutral-site game at Akron on April 19, 1987 which the Flyers won, 3-1.

RPI RANKINGS
In the NCAA's Rating Percentage Index (RPI) through games on March 24, Dayton came in at 153 according to NCAA.com. Kentucky was ranked 33 and Ohio State was 65.

CAREER CRIMINALS
With two stolen bases in Dayton's first game against George Mason on March 16, graduate student Emily Daniel became the program's career stolen base leader. Daniel, who spent her freshman season (2020) at Wright State, now has 69 career stolen bases as a Flyer, surpassing Molly Meyer (66) who had held the record since 2010. Junior Emma Schutter moved into Dayton's top 10 all-time stolen bases list last season and is only two behind Daniel in second place with 67 career stolen bases.

THREE STRIKES YOU'RE OUT
Over 231.1 career innings pitched, sophomore Izzy Kemp holds the program record for most strikeouts per seven-inning game at 8.35. Her 2.27 ERA and .194 opposing batting average currently rank first in the Atlantic 10. The 2023 A-10 Rookie of the Year tallied 198 strikeouts and posted 9.0 strikeouts per seven innings last season, which ranked 24th in all of Division I.

START ME UP
Junior Emma Schutter has made 125 consecutive appearances in the Flyers' starting lineup, every game she has played during her career at Dayton.

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