ROCHESTER, Mich. — The Oakland softball program closes the regular season with a four-game set against the Purdue Fort Wayne Mastodons on Friday, May 7, and Saturday, May 8, at the Oakland Softball Field. Saturday is Senior Day for the Golden Grizzlies, where Oakland's seven seniors will be honored prior to first pitch. The weekend series will stream on ESPN3.
Spectators will be permitted in the raised berm area beyond the outfield fence. Spectators are required to practice social distancing and to wear face coverings/masks when watching the game.
Click here to view spectator seating.
* It is recommended for spectators to bring chairs, blankets, and water bottles to each game. Bleacher seating and concessions will not be available due to COVID-19 protocols.
WEEKEND INFORMATION
May 7 | 2 p.m. |
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Live Stats
May 7 | 4 p.m. est. |
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Live Stats
May 8 | 1 p.m. |
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Live Stats
May 8 | 3 p.m. est. |
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Live Stats
SCOUTING THE 'DONS
Purdue Fort Wayne enters the matchup at 12-23 overall and 11-20 against HL opponents. The Mastodons have won four of their last six games after earning a series win against Green Bay and splitting a doubleheader to the Golden Grizzlies in midweek action. The 'Dons have struggled on the road with a 4-14 record as the away team.
As a team, PFW has hit a conference-high 36 home runs. Seven players have slugged three or more home runs on the season. Individually, a pair of infielders in Madeline Swart and Kyndell Ethridge have paced the offense for the 'Dons. Swart is hitting a team-best .377 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 25 RBI. Senior pitcher Shaina Eyre has led PFW pitchers with a 4.00 ERA in 18 starts. She ranks first on the team in wins (7), complete games (12), innings pitched (113.2), and strikeouts (80).
ALL-TIME VS. PFW
The Golden Grizzlies trail 13-16 in the all-time series. PFW has held the advantage as of late with eight wins in the last 10 matchups. The two programs recently 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 a season-high 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 19-11. 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 YSU.
LAST TIME OUT
Last time out, the Golden Grizzlies split a doubleheader at Purdue Fort Wayne. OU earned a 5-1 win in the opener, while PFW's Camryn Mosher hit a two-out walk-off grand slam in game two, resulting in a 9-8 win for the Mastodons. On the day, junior outfielder
Lauren Griffith hit .500 (4-for-8) with two homers and four RBI. Junior outfielder
Arieanna Grammatico recorded RBI hits in both plate appearances, including her first-career home run as a pinch-hitter with the game tied. Sophomore pitcher
Sydney Campbell combined for 11 strikeouts in 9.0 innings of work.
HOME RUN RECORD
Jones clubbed a pair of home runs 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.
GRIFFITH TO THE RESCUE
Griffith has enjoyed a breakout junior campaign, as she is batting .376 with seven doubles, six home runs, and 27 RBI. She possesses top-10 HL marks in RBI (6th), hits (44, 6th), batting average (7th), and slugging percentage (.590, 9th). Additionally, the Grove City, Ohio native has totaled three or more hits in a team-high six games.
THRIVING IN THE CIRCLE
Campbell is 13-5 with a 1.97 ERA in 124.2 innings of work. She holds top-five HL marks in strikeout-to-walk ratio (5.83, 2nd), innings pitched (2nd), wins (T-2nd), and ERA (3rd). Furthermore, Campbell ranks seventh in NCAA Division I and second in the HL in walks allowed per seven innings (0.67). She has walked no batters in 17 of her 25 appearances.
POWERED BY BRUMMITT
Brummitt is batting a team-high .397 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 ranks 29th nationally in doubles per game (0.35) and has struck out just seven times in 121 at-bats.
DO-IT-ALL JONES
Jones has batted .377 with 11 doubles, four triples, a team-leading seven home runs, 23 RBI, and 41 runs scored in 34 starts. In the conference rankings, she holds top-five marks in runs (2nd), triples (2nd), slugging percentage (.728, 2nd), hit by pitch (7, T-2nd), total bases (76, 3rd), stolen bases (15, 4th), on-base percentage (.450, 4th), and doubles (5th). Jones' 1.21 runs per game rank ninth in the country.
SHE'S A TEAM PLAYER
Junior second baseman
Jessie Munson is tied for first in the conference and 50th nationally in sacrifice flies with three. In her career with the Golden Grizzlies, she has tallied 23 sacrifice hits, which is the fifth-highest mark in school history.
8-STRAIGHT
Brummitt reached base in eight consecutive at-bats spanning over three games from April 24 to May 4. She started it off with two singles and a walk in her final three at-bats in OU's series finale against UIC (4/24). In her next game at Purdue Fort Wayne, Brummitt reached base in all four plate appearances with three singles and a walk. She opened game two at PFW with another single to increase the streak to eight at-bats.
POWER SURGE
OU has totaled 28 home runs on the season, which is its most in a single season since 2015. The Golden Grizzlies have homered twice in a game on seven occasions, including a season-high four times against Green Bay (4/3) and PFW (5/4). Four players have homered five-plus times through 34 games, led by Jones with a team-leading seven four-baggers.
HITTING IS CONTAGIOUS
The Golden Grizzlies rank first in the Horizon League and 36th nationally with a .305 batting average. Brummitt (.397), Jones (.377), and Griffith (.376) are currently batting above .300 on the season.
SEASON FOR THE AGES
The Golden Grizzlies have won 19 games against conference competition, which is the most in program history. The record was previously set in 2001 when OU went 16-6 in Summit League play. Oakland's record mark in conference wins against Horizon League opponents was 14 during the 2015 season.
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.
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)
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.
