April 24, 2012

CHICAGO - The UIC softball team (21-23/7-7 Horizon) is riding on the coat tails of a 1-0 victory over first-place Valparaiso as the team welcomes Green Bay to Flames Field for a doubleheader Wednesday at 3:00 p.m. (CT), followed by a single game Thursday at 1:00 p.m. in Chicago, Ill.

LEAD-OFF HITS

SCOUTING THE FLAMES

UIC has a 21-23 record, including 7-7 in the Horizon League ... Kara Komp leads the team with a .390 average in 77 at-bats, including 17 runs, 30 hits and eight RBI ... Melissa Preish is batting a .383 with 49 hits ... Coryn Schmit continues to lead the team in RBI with 31 ... Schmit and Jenna Marsalli are tied with six homeruns to lead UIC ... Ashley Hewett and Devin Miller have split time inside the circle ... Hewett, 9-11 with a 3.18 ERA has 101 strikeouts in 127.2. innings of work ... Miller, 11-12 with a 4.07 ERA has pitched 156.1 innings, and blanked 131 batters.

SCOUTING THE PHOENIX

Green Bay has a .500 record at 19-19, with an 8-7 record in the Horizon League ... Miranda Reinke leads the team with a .366 average, and has 101 at-bats with 18 runs and 37 hits ... the Phoenix have featured five pitchers, with Ashle Nannemann (11-9/3.24 ERA) and Allison Goecks (7-7/3.30 ERA) through most of the season ... Amanda Omahen and Alli Rivera both have three homeruns to lead the team ... Omahen has 22 RBI, the most on the Phoenix squad.

SERIES HISTORY WITH GREEN BAY

UIC leads the series with Green Bay, 52-15 ... the team last met during the 2011 season ... the teams suffered two rain outs, before playing a doubleheader on April 29, 2011 in Green Bay, Wis. ... UIC split the twinbill, winning the first game 7-4 and losing the second 8-6.

LAST TIME OUT

UIC heads into competition with Green Bay after taking the series with first-place Valparaiso ... the Flames fell to the Crusaders in the bottom of the eighth inning, 7-4, before winning the second game, 5-3 ... in that contest, Courtney Heeley had a grand slam that assisted the team to the victory ... Heeley closed out another major offensive play in the final game of the series as she found herself up to bat with the bases loaded and a 3-2 count to draw the walk and earn the RBI to win the game 1-0.

HORIZON LEAGUE PRESEASON PICK

A 2012 Horizon League Tournament championship gave the Flames their first NCAA berth since 2004. UIC concluded the 2011 season with the top fielding percentage in the league, .968 percent. Schmit tied for third place in homeruns with 10, while Miller blanked 227 batters to finish third in strikeouts.

2011 HORIZON LEAGUE HONORS - SCHMIT & HERNANDEZ

Schmit was a postseason first-team all-Horizon League honoree as she had a league-best slugging percentage of .800, while also leading the Flames in homeruns with six. The first baseman logged 16 RBI in 20 League contests, and concluded the season with a .315 batting average. Hernandez garnered 2011 postseason all-second and all-newcomer Horizon League honors after the shortstop posted a .349 batting average, while committing only four errors on the season. She added nine RBI, three homeruns and a triple during her rookie season.

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