CHICAGO – The UIC softball team (33-19) will begin its trek down to Kentucky for its second-consecutive NCAA Regional appearance. The Flames are paired up with the hosts, No. 16 Kentucky on Friday, May 18 inside of John Cropp Stadium in the first round of the double-elimination tournament. First pitch is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. CT.

Michigan and Notre Dame will also contend at the Lexington Regional, facing off with one another on Friday prior to the UIC-Kentucky match up.

RETURN TO THE BIG DANCE
The Flames return to the NCAA Tournament for the second consecutive year and 11th time in program history. UIC owns an all-time record of 13-21 in Regional contests after it attended the Eugene Regional in 2017 and won its first Regional contest since 2004 with a 5-4 victory over Missouri. The Flames also faced No. 3 Oregon and Wisconsin in the Tournament, falling 13-0 (5) and 2-0, respectively.

THE OUTLOOK
UIC is looking to improve on last season's 1-2 Regional showing, and will be faced with some of its largest competition all season. Kentucky is the highest seed the Flames will have faced since opening the season against then No. 8 LSU, where they were dealt a 3-0 loss. If matched, Michigan will be the fifth Big Ten foe for UIC this year, while Notre Dame would be the Flames' first taste of ACC action.  

RETURN OF THE CHAMPIONS
For the tenth time in program history and for the second straight year, UIC was crowned the Horizon League Tournament Champion. UIC went 3-1 in the double elimination tournament, defeating Wright State 2-1 on Thursday (May 10) and IUPUI 7-4 on Friday (May 11) to advance to the championship. The Flames got another chance against No. 2 Oakland after dropping game one 7-3, and won the do-or-die contest, 3-1, to reclaim the crown despite missing key players Lexi Watts and Tiana Mack-Miller.

REGULAR SEASON'S FINEST
The Flames finished at the top of the Horizon League for the fourth-consecutive season to claim the regular season title, marking the longest streak of regular season championships since the 1996-2000 Flames. UIC turned out a 19-4 conference record after winning seven of its eight series, including four three-game sweeps and one two-game sweep. The 19 wins was just one win shy of last season's program record of 20, and the Flames' 33-19 overall record marked the third-straight season of 30-plus wins.

PROWESS AT THE PLATE
UIC is batting .296 as a squad, its highest mark as a team since 2014. The Flames have four batters hitting above .300 this season in Lexi Watts (.445), Kayla Wedl (.350), Taylor Cairns (.327) and Skylee James (.312). All four represented UIC on the All-Horizon League First Team, and Cairns was featured on the All-Tournament team.

James (49 RBI) and Wedl (36 RBI) were the top two run producers in the Horizon League this season, finishing first and second in the conference in RBIs, respectively. Wedl also ranked fourth in the League in runs, crossing the dish 35 times, and was ranked fourth in the conference with 57 hits.  James led the squad with 23 mutli-base hits, and her 15 two-base hits ranked number one in the Horizon League.

CONTROL IN THE CIRCLE
The Flames had the best pitching staff in the Horizon League this year, owning a collective 3.07 ERA. Sophomore Allie Trudeau paced UIC in the circle with the conference's third-lowest ERA at 2.51, followed closely by freshman Marley Hanlon's fourth-lowest 2.66 ERA. Redshirt-junior Karissa Frazier held batters to a .236 average, lowest in the League, while Trudeau kept batters to a .246 clip, good for fifth lowest. UIC's staff allowed the fewest hits this season (334) and the fewest runs (174), while holding runners to a League-low .258 average.

ALL-TIME SERIES
UIC owns a 5-3 record all time against Kentucky, having last met in March of 2017 at the Coach B Classic, where the Wildcats came away with the 6-2 victory. The Flames and the Wildcats were scheduled to meet earlier this season at the 28th Campbell/Cartier Classic, but weather prevented UIC from making the trip to California. UIC is 2-3 all-time against Michigan, falling 3-1 in the Ann Arbor Regional back in 2000, the last meeting between the two teams. Against Notre Dame, UIC is 9-19 all-time, after taking a 4-1 loss in the UCF Invitational in 2011.