CHICAGO – The UIC softball team (24-17, 11-1 HL) will open up an eight-game homestand this weekend when it hosts Northern Kentucky (11-26, 5-7 HL) for three games at Flames Field. The series gets underway Friday at 4 p.m. CT with a doubleheader to close out the set Saturday at noon.
 
Saturday will additionally serve as Senior Day with the Flames honoring their 2017 class of Alice Fitzpatrick, Elaine Heflin, Rachel May, Lindsay Melson, Kaleigh Nagle and Savannah Soppet. UIC Athletics will also be hosting a beer garden between the softball and baseball fields from 11 a.m.-3 p.m.

LAST TIME OUT
The Flames enter into the weekend having won their last seven games, highlighted by their most recent series sweep over Valparaiso. The sweep was their third in the conference season as they took two shutouts, 6-0 and 5-0, and a 3-2 win in nine innings. UIC tallied 22 hits across the three games with nine extra-base efforts while the Crusaders were limited to just nine hits.
 
Jennah Speth led the team with four hits and came up with two RBI while Skylee James drove in a team-best five runs, including four off her first-career grand slam, and Savannah Soppet added four. The pitching staff was dominant as Heflin picked up two wins and struck out 18 in 10.1 shutout innings, Frazier tossed a complete-game shutout and Trudeau set a career high with nine Ks in 5.2 frames.

SCOUTING THE FLAMES
The Flames have racked up the third-best batting average in the Horizon League this season with a .276 mark. Lexi Watts (.402) leads the team in average, hits (53) and stolen bases (18), while Soppet (.293), Taylor Cairns (.292) and Tiana Mack-Miller (.275) all own more than 30 hits on the year. Speth (.355) has tallied a team-high four home runs and 21 RBI, as Mack-Miller and Jasmine Willis (.258) have the next highest RBI total of 20.
 
Conference play has presented UIC with an average of .299 as Watts (.415) continues to place at the top with 17 hits and eight stolen bases. All four of Speth's (.351) homers on the year have been against league foes as she leads the team with 13 RBI and has produced the second highest hit total with 13.
 
The pitching staff has allowed just three runs to score over the last six games as it has produced a 2.46 earned-run average on the season while holding opponents to a .221 batting average. Frazier (1.57 ERA), Heflin (2.47 ERA) and Trudeau (2.73 ERA) have put in the most innings and have aided in the team's 207 total strikeouts, with Heflin being credited with more than half at 106.
 
The Flames' pitchers have been at their best in Horizon League play, posting their best ERA after 12 conference games since 2002 (0.96) with a mark of 1.07. Frazier (0.42 ERA), Heflin (1.42 ERA) and Trudeau (1.44 ERA) go 1-2-3 in leading the league with their averages, as they have held foes to a minimal .172 batting average and dished out 83 strikeouts en route to five complete-game shutouts.
 
SCOUTING THE NORSE
Northern Kentucky faces a quick turnaround after its series with Youngstown State Wednesday and Thursday, coming away with two out of three with 9-0 (6) and 11-3 (5) wins. In its four conference series so far, NKU has won at least one game in each series.
 
The Norse are hitting .257 on the year with Ava Lawson (.333) and Dani Devlin (.315) at the top of the pack with a combined 67 hits. Devlin boasts 12 home runs to lead the conference as she has turned out 27 RBI, with Lawson also reaching the 20 RBI mark.
 
NKU is above the .300 mark in conference play with a .313 average paced by the efforts of Devlin (.432), Sydney Ferrante (.333), Lawson (.333) and Kailey Rossiter (.333), with Devlin owning a team-best 16 hits, eight home runs and 15 RBI, tying the amount of runs driven in with Ferrante.
 
Ashlynn Roberts (5.42 ERA) and Charlie Nolen (5.81 ERA) have started a majority of the games for the Norse, going 4-9 and 5-7, respectively, as Roberts leads the team in innings (91.1) and strikeouts (55). The team as a whole has a 6.48 ERA this season and have allowed opponents to hit .334.
 
Nolen (3.45 ERA) and Roberts (6.55 ERA) have thrown all but 14.0 innings against league foes as Nolen owns a team-best three wins with Roberts taking the top strikeout mark of 26. The pitching staff has allowed opponents to hit .310 as it has struck out a total of 44.
 
ALL-TIME SERIES
Last season was the first time UIC and NKU had met, and the Flames were able to pull off the series sweep after taking 7-1, 6-4 and 9-1 (5) wins at home.