ROCHESTER, Mich. – Horizon League play starts Thursday, March 10 for Oakland University Softball as the three-game series was moved up by a day due to inclement weather in the Highland Heights area this weekend as the single game will start at 3:00 p.m. Thursday.

Oakland went 2-2 in its four game slate at the Evansville Softball Invitational with wins over Bowling Green and Morehead State while dropping matches in short innings to host Evansville and Creighton. 

Cammie Brummitt smacked her second, team-leading, home run of the year in the win over MSU as the redshirt senior went 2-3 in the game while bringing in an RBI off her homerun. Lauren Griffith would double in the second game with Madison Jones getting an RBI with one run and one hit. 

Griffith leads the Horizon League in batting average with .407 after going to the plate 27 times for 11 hits, a team-high four doubles, a team-high five RBI, and one run for the fifth-best on base percentage of the conference at .467. 

Jones sits just behind Griffith with a .303 average with Muson at .233. Jones also has three RBI to her credit. Reese Ruhlman is a team-leading 2-2 on stolen base attempts. 

Sydney Campbell leads the Golden Grizzlies with a 2.73 ERA, the fifth-best in the league, as the LaGrange, Ohio native is 4-3 on the year in 48.2 innings pitched. Campbell has given up 19 earned runs with 38 strikeouts (sixth-best in HL). Mia Konyvka sits just behind at 7.00 ERA while Maci Brown comes off her first start this season in the circle against Creighton.

The Golden Grizzlies are 88th in the NCAA RPI ahead of the likes of Texas Tech, Maryland, Kansas, Indiana, and others. 

SCOUTING REPORT

NKU
The Norse sit at 8-12 overall  with four games against ranked opponents (#19 Michigan and #17 Northwestern) going 0-4 against those teams. NKU emerged 1-4 out of the Coach B Classic with its only win coming 1-0 against Murray State while the team fell 5-0 to Saint Louis on Tuesday night.

Kendyl McKeough leads the Norse with a .322 batting average with 19 hits, nine runs, and nine RBI all while holding second in the league with home runs (three). Tatum Biddle has been struckout a league-high 24 times as NKU holds two of the top three strikeout spots with Jordan Jenkins being sent to the dugout 18 times. 

Madisyn Eads leads NKU at 3-4 overall with a 3.87 ERA allowing 52 hits, 31 runs, and 29 strikeouts. Eads is ninth in the league in earned run average and ninth in batters struck out for the Norse.
NKU is 84th, two spots ahead of Oakland, in the NCAA RPI anchored by a 21-1 win over South Carolina State.
___________________________________________________________________________

NEAR UPSET ALERT
Oakland started off strong against the Seminoles behind Lauren Griffith's RBI home run to lead 3-0 before FSU would go on to tie at 3-3 then explode out to a 6-3 advantage behind a fiery bottom of the sixth. Griffith would then slap an RBI double to left center as OU pulled within one run at 6-5 before a groundout to second would dash the Golden Grizzlies' hopes.

HEATED UP IN CHAMPIONSHIP
The Golden Grizzlies finished 26-16 overall, 23-11 in Horizon League play last season that concluded in the Horizon League Conference Tournament after No. 2 seed Oakland upset No. 1 seed Youngstown State only to fall to No. 3 seed UIC in the championship match 4-3. 

ALL-LEAGUE HONOREES
Following the 2021 season, five Golden Grizzly athletes were named to #HLSB All-League honors in Cammie Brummitt, Lauren Griffith, Madison Jones, Sydney Campbell, and Jen Krizka. Brummitt, Griffith, and Jones were named to First Team honors as position players while Campbell was one of two to be listed as a First Team Pitcher. Krizka then followed suit with an  All-League Second Team accolade.

RETURNING POWER
Oakland returns all five of the previously mentioned names with an average batting average of .373 as Jones returns to the line up with a team-high .411 average from 2021. Jones was also 15-16 on stolen base attempts and racked up a tying team-high of 13 doubles and seven home runs for a .738 slugging percentage.

Campbell returns to the circle after a 17-7 season a year ago with 91 strikeouts through 165.2 innings pitched to allow 46 earned runs for an ERA of 1.94. 

THE FAVORITE? OAKLAND
The Golden Grizzlies were picked first in the #HLSB Preseason Poll with two first-place votes and 82 in total ahead of Youngstown State who garnered five first-place votes and 81 total, respectively. UIC was third with 74 points (two first-place votes) while Robert Morris (62) and Green Bay (49) rounded out the top five. 

2022 RECRUITING CLASS
The Golden Grizzlies added five student-athletes to the roster for the 2022 season in Kamryn Troyer, Maraina Smith, Jenna Johnston, Kayla Rodriguez, and Taylor Carraway. 

KARN EXTENDED
Head Softball Coach, Lauren Karn, had her contract extended through 2025 as the fifth-year coach has coached 11 student-athletes to All-Horizon League honors while reaching the conference tournament three times with two of those being runner-up performances. Ahead of the 2022 campaign, Karn is 19 wins away from being the all-time winningest coach.