AMHERST, Mass. - The University of Dayton softball team is in the northeast this weekend for a three-game Atlantic 10 series at Massachusetts April 6-7. The series will get underway Saturday with a doubleheader at 12 p.m. followed by a single game on Sunday. All games will be played at UMass' Sortino Field and admission is free.

SCOUTING DAYTON
Dayton (16-13, 6-3 A-10) had its midweek home game against Butler cancelled on Wednesday and heads into this weekend's games after an A-10 series sweep at home against Loyola Chicago. Current A-10 Player of the Week junior Maddie Kapsimalis (.368) leads the Flyers' offense with 32 hits, including seven doubles and five home runs, 31 RBI (t-3rd A-10) and 18 walks (t-6th A-10) while graduate student Emily Daniel leads three Flyers with double-digit stolen bases with 18 (t-1st A-10). Sophomore Izzy Kemp (7-5) carries the team's low ERA of 2.27 (1st A-10) and has collected a team-high 78 strikeouts (4th A-10).

SCOUTING MASSACHUSETTS
Massachusetts (10-21, 6-3 A-10) is also coming off a three-game A-10 series sweep after claiming three wins at St. Bonaventure this past weekend. Bella Pantoja (.309), one of three Minutewomen who has started all 31 games this season, leads the team with 30 hits and 14 RBI while Chloe Whittier (.306) has a team-best 17 runs and four stolen bases. Julianna Bolton (6-8) leads the UMass pitching corps with a 4.41 ERA and 74 strikeouts.

SERIES STUFF
UMass leads, 41-14
The Minutewomen claimed a 1-0 win over the Flyers in last season's series finale at Dayton, breaking up UD's four-game winning streak against UMass. Dayton has won seven of the last 10 meetings in the series.

RPI RANKINGS
In the NCAA's final Rating Percentage Index (RPI) through games on April 4, Dayton came in at 142 according to NCAA.com. Massachusetts was ranked 238.

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 70 career stolen bases as a Flyer, surpassing Molly Meyer (66) who previously 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.

START ME UP
Junior Emma Schutter has made 130 consecutive appearances in the Flyers' starting lineup, every game she has played during her career at Dayton.

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.

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