ROCHESTER, Mich. – Oakland University Softball will open #HLSB play on Tuesday, March 21 in Indianapolis, Indiana for a doubleheader with IUPUI as a school record is on the cusp of collapse behind a pitching arm.
With a week of rest following a 6-4 opening non-conference slate in Florida, the team enters its first #HLSB series as the best batting squad in the conference with a cumulative average of .246 with 63 hits in 256 at-bats with 12 doubles and a league-high four triples to the Golden Grizzlies' credit.
Allisa DiPrima sits second in the league with an average of .394 with 13 hits in 33 appearances at the plate in conjunction with a conference-high two triples. This puts the White Lake native fifth in NCAA Division I in triples per game at .22.
As a team, the Golden Grizzlies are seventh in the entire division in triples per game at .44.
Catcher Jen Krizka follows DiPrima with a batting average of .360 for fourth in the conference with zero strikeouts to her stat line so far this season. This puts Krizka 8th in Division I in walks per game, drawing .90 a match. The Joliet, Illinois native leads the team in doubles (three) and runs batted in (eight).
Leadoff batter Madi Herrington is among the toughest to strikeout in the nation with 31 at-bats with one strikeout for the 29th-best mark in the nation (31.0). The sophomore heads into Tuesday's doubleheader with five hits and eight runs.
Maci Brown finds herself eighth in the league in batting with a .323 batting average along with three doubles and 10 hits in 31 at-bats.
The combo of Makayla Jauregui and Leah Bieniewicz have aided Oakland's offense tremendously in advancing base runners with the 17th and 38th-best marks in NCAA Division I in sacrifice bunts per game (.25 and .22, respectively).
In the circle, Sydney Campbell once again sees herself atop #HLSB in pitching with the conference's best earned run average of 1.58 with the 45th best strikeout to walk ratio in the NCAA at 6.25. Campbell has nine earned runs in 40 hits allowed while facing 159 at-bats.
The LaGrange, Ohio native is tied for most wins by any Golden Grizzlies pitcher in school history as one more is needed to become the winningest of all time at Oakland. Campbell is currently at 48 wins.
Mia Konyvka, Maraina Smith, and Hailee Jenkins have all made their appearances for the Golden Grizzlies as well with some of these names expected to surface in action Tuesday and beyond.
SCOUTING REPORT
IUPUI
The Jaguars scored a combined two runs in the team's doubleheader with Indiana State on Wednesday in Indianapolis as part of two losses. Head Coach Elisabeth Beirne's squad has posted three wins starting with the River City Leadoff in the team's season opener in a 6-5 victory over power five opponent Syracuse.
Since then, the team has seen the fifth-best batting stats in the conference with a collective team average of .215 through 17 games in 414 at bats. Two Jags, Kennedy Cowan and Jaida Speith, are in the top six in #HLSB with .361 and .349 individual batting averages, respectively.
IUPUI has thrown three arms in the 2023 campaign with Alexa Holman securing the team's best ERA at 3.97, tenth in the conference, allowing 33 hits to go with 14 earned runs and just 16 strikeouts with an 1-3 record. Also in the circle, Madison Bryant and Carly Metcalf have seen time as the latter has the only win between the two.
The all-time series since 2002 has gone Oakland's way with a 26-19 mark including an 11-9 record in Indianapolis. Last season, the Golden Grizzlies bested the Jags in six innings in the front half of a doubleheader while dropping the second game in eight innings.
PICKED FIRST… AGAIN!
The Golden Grizzlies are slated to be first in the Horizon League for the 2023 season as voted on by the conference's Head Coaches back on February 8 with eight of the nine first-place votes.
STARTING AT 100
Head Coach Lauren Karn will start the 2023 campaign with 100 wins in her pocket as the all-time winningest head coach in Oakland Softball history. Prior to THE Spring Games on February 24, Karn sits at 100-104 in her five-year career.
A STORM IN THE CIRCLE
Pitcher Sydney Campbell returns to play as the reigning #HLSB Pitcher of the Year following a 2.23 earned run average with only 204 hits allowed in 864 at-bats the La Grange, Ohio native has faced. Campbell's name is littered through the OU record book as she's first in-season appearances (43) and season wins (23).
NEW KIDS ON THE BLOCK
Six freshmen join the Oakland roster in Jenna Johnston, Kayla Rodriguez, Maraina Smith, Taylor Carraway, Hailee Jenkins, and Kamryn Troyer.
