ROCHESTER, Mich. — The Oakland softball program travels to Indiana to face the Purdue Fort Wayne Mastodons for a doubleheader on Tuesday, May 4. The Horizon League matchup will commence at 2 p.m. from Purdue Fort Wayne Softball Field. Live stats will be provided for both games.
Originally, OU was slated to play PFW on March 23, but the doubleheader was postponed to April 20 due to forecasted rain. The April 20 matchup was then postponed to May 4 because of forecasted snow in Fort Wayne.
WEEKEND INFORMATION
May 4 | 2 p.m. |
Live Stats
May 4 | 4 p.m. est. |
Live Stats
SCOUTING THE 'DONS
Purdue Fort Wayne enters the matchup at 11-22 and 10-19 against HL opponents. The Mastodons are coming off their first series win of the season, as they took three games from the Green Bay Phoenix. At home, the 'Dons boast a 7-8 record in conference play.
A pair of infielders in Madeline Swart and Kyndell Ethridge have paced the offense for the 'Dons. Swart is hitting a team-best .366 with three home runs and 18 RBI, while Ethridge is batting .288 with four homers and eight RBI. Another infielder in Morganne Denny leads the team with seven home runs and 24 RBI. Senior pitcher Shaina Eyre has led PFW pitchers with a 4.07 ERA in 17 starts. She ranks first on the team in wins (7), complete games (11), innings pitched (106.2), and strikeouts (74).
ALL-TIME VS. PFW
The Golden Grizzlies trail 12-15 in the all-time series. PFW has held the advantage as of late with seven wins in the last eight matchups. The two programs last met for a single game during the 2019 season, when the 'Dons came away with a 4-3 victory.
Lauryn Debono pitched 5.2 innings in the loss, striking out nine batters. A pair of current Golden Grizzlies in
Lauren Griffith and
Shannon Carr collected hits.
CONFERENCE STANDINGS
Oakland is in third place in the Horizon League standings at 18-10. Youngstown State leads the HL with a 26-6 record, while preseason favorite UIC sits second at 23-11. Robert Morris rounds out the top half of the standings with an 18-12 conference clip. The top four seeds after the regular season will advance to the 2021 Horizon League Softball Championship from May 13-15 at the site of the No. 1 seed.
WEEKEND RECAP
Last time out, the Golden Grizzlies won the first three in a four-game set to UIC. OU opened the series with a doubleheader sweep by final scores of 4-2 and 7-0. Sophomore pitcher
Sydney Campbell tossed a two-hit shutout to lead the Golden Grizzlies to a 1-0 series-clinching win the following day. The Flames prevented a sweep by winning the slugfest series finale, 11-8.
HOME RUN RECORD
Redshirt junior third baseman
Madison Jones went yard twice in the UIC series to become the school record holder in career home runs with 21. Jones broke the school record with a grand slam in the series finale. The Romeo, Mich. native captured the record in just 99 starts, as she hit a program-best 13 home runs in her freshman season, followed by two homers in a Covid-19 shortened 2020 campaign and six this season.
MAKING HISTORY
Redshirt junior first baseman
Cammie Brummitt and senior shortstop
Jamie Squires made history in Oakland's series sweep over Cleveland State. Brummitt smashed a school-record three doubles in the series opener, while Squires hit a grand slam in the series finale to become OU's school-record holder in career RBI with 98. Squires surpassed current graduate assistant
Brittney Miller who was previously the program leader with 97 career RBI.
SEASON FOR THE AGES
The Golden Grizzlies have won 18 games against conference competition, which is their most in program history. The record was previously set in 2001 when OU went 16-6 in Summit League play. Oakland's previous record mark in conference wins against Horizon League opponents was 14 during the 2015 season.
THRIVING IN THE CIRCLE
Campbell is 12-4 with a 1.82 ERA in 115.2 innings of work. She holds top-five HL marks in ERA (2nd), strikeout-to-walk ratio (5.09, 3rd), wins (T-3rd), complete games (13, T-4th), innings pitched (T-5th). Furthermore, Campbell ranks 10th in NCAA Division I and first in the HL in walks allowed per seven innings (0.71). She has walked no batters in 16 of her 23 appearances.
POWERED BY BRUMMITT
Brummitt is batting a team-high .386 with 12 doubles, one triple, six home runs, and 26 RBI. She is three doubles shy of tying Oakland's single-season school record of 15 doubles, which was last broke by Keri Sedgley in 2001. The Glen Allen, Va., native has been on a tear at the plate in the last 12 games, as she has batted .535 with eight doubles, two homers, and 12 RBI in the span.
DO-IT-ALL JONES
Jones has batted .377 with 10 doubles, four triples, six home runs, 21 RBI, and 38 runs scored in 32 starts. In the conference rankings, she holds top-five marks in runs (2nd), triples (2nd), hit by pitch (7, T-2nd), slugging percentage (.717, 3rd), total bases (76, 3rd), stolen bases (15, 4th), on-base percentage (.455, 4th), and batting average (5th).
PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Brummitt, Campbell, and Jones have racked Horizon League awards through nine weeks of play. Brummitt earned League Player of the Week after hitting .412 with one triple, three home runs, seven RBI, and six runs scored in the IUPUI series. Campbell went 2-0 with a 1.17 ERA, one complete game, and eight strikeouts in 12.0 innings of work in the Green Bay series en route to earning League Pitcher of the Week. In the UIC series, Jones led the Golden Grizzlies in RBI (6), runs scored (5), stolen bases (3), and home runs (2), which led to her second career League Player of the Week award.
3/16/21 -
Cammie Brummitt - HLSB Player of the Week (1st of career)
4/6/21 -
Sydney Campbell - HLSB Pitcher of the Week (1st of career)
4/27/21 -
Madison Jones - HLSB Player of the Week (2nd of career)
HOME COOKIN'
The Golden Grizzlies are 14-2 at home after series wins over Northern Kentucky, Green Bay, Cleveland State, and UIC. The win total is tied for their most in a single season, which was set by Oakland's 2003 squad with a school record of 14 home victories.
HITTING IS CONTAGIOUS
The Golden Grizzlies rank first in the Horizon League and 34th nationally with a .306 batting average. Brummitt (.386), Jones (.377), Griffith (.367), and
Jen Krizka (.313) are currently batting above .300 on the season.
SERIES CANCELLATION
Originally, OU was slated to face Detroit Mercy for a four-game set in late April and a doubleheader on May 4. However, the Titans canceled their remaining scheduled games on April 15 due to health and safety protocols that left the program with too few players to continue.
NEWCOMERS
OU welcomed six newcomers — all freshmen — to the program last fall. Four of the six freshmen come from Michigan. The other two newcomers arrive on campus from Ohio and Indiana.
#HLSB PRESEASON POLL
The Golden Grizzlies were picked fourth in the Horizon League Softball preseason coaches poll. Oakland was one of two teams (UIC) to receive a first-place vote in the poll. UIC was projected to win the conference with 99 points and nine of the 10 first-place votes.
