ROCHESTER, Mich. – On Saturday and Sunday, April 15 and 16, Oakland University Softball will bout with host University of Miami (Ohio) and the University of Louisville as part of the Miami Invitational in Oxford, Ohio and Louisville, Kentucky.
Oakland vaulted to second in the #HLSB standings with a three-game, Metro Series sweep of rival University of Detroit Mercy on Tuesday and Wednesday. In the final game of the series, the five home runs smacked were a school record for most home runs hit in a single game by the squad. Jen Krizka's two homers on Tuesday in a single game also ties for the most in the program.
Three Golden Grizzlies are in the top 25 in triples per game with Maci Brown 18th at .14 while the duo of Allisa DiPrima and Reese Ruhlman are in a tie for 25th with .12. Oakland is fourth in NCAA Division I in triples per game.
Madi Herrington is 30th in the nation in toughest to strikeout with 74 at-bats and only three strikeouts thrown against the sophomore.
DiPrima now sits atop the team in batting average at .342 while getting her first home run of the season against UDM. Krizka and Ruhlman then follow at .328 and .324 as well with the two combining for five triples and seven home runs on the year.
Those three find themselves seventh, ninth, and 12th in #HLSB's statistical standings in batting average.
Maci Brown bats a .319 with a team-high five doubles along with three triples of her own as the final Golden Grizzly above .300.
Sydney Campbell not only has the best earned run average in the Horizon League, but the 41st-best in the country at 1.50 with 22 earned runs in 402 at-bats.
SCOUTING REPORT
THE REDHAWKS
The hosts are on a six-game winning streak with Mid-American Conference (MAC) sweeps of Buffalo and Bowling Green. With an 11-6 MAC record, the Redhawks are in position for second in the conference race behind the University of Ohio.
Karli Spaid is tenth in the MAC in batting average at .357 with a league-leading 16 home runs and 45 RBI. Brianna Pratt is eighth in ERA for the conference, leading hte Redhawks with a 2.99 and an 18-8 record in the circle.
THE CARDINALS
U of L is fourth in the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) with a 10-4 league record behind nationally-ranked Florida State, Clemson, and Virginia Tech. The Cardinals are coming off a 10-5 mid-week loss to Indiana University in Bloomington and would have played both Miami (Ohio) and Oklahoma prior to Sunday's doubleheader.
Korbe Otis is third in the ACC in batting average at .444 with a league-high seven triples. Makayla Hurst is just behind at .400 in eighth, second on the team. Taylor Roby has a team-leading ERA of 2.35 ahead of Alyssa Zabala with a 2.94.
SYD JUST WINS, WINS, WINS
Redshirt junior pitcher, Sydney Campbell, secured her 49th career win in the circle for Oakland on March 22 in the first half of a doubleheader with IUPUI. Campbell bests Jessica Granger's record set from 2007-2009.
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.
