CHICAGO - The UIC softball team (30-18, 19-4 HL) begins its pursuit of back-to-back Horizon League Championships on Thursday, May 10, facing the winner of the round-one contest between No. 4 Wright State (19-30, 12-10 HL) and No. 5 Northern Kentucky (24-20, 11-11 HL). First pitch is set for 12:00 p.m. CT inside Flames Field.

The top-seeded Flames secured the regular season title for the fourth-straight season, and completed its third-straight year tallying 30-plus wins. UIC finished the regular season 19-4 in Horizon League play, just one win shy of last season's program record.

FLAMES HEADLINE POSTSEASON AWARDS
Junior Lexi Watts earned the title of Player of the Year following an incredible year that had her land in the nation's top 20 in several offensive categories, including No. 13 in batting average (.445), No. 11 in hits (73) and No. 19 in stolen bases (0.67 per game).

In her second year at the helm for the Flames, head coach Lynn Curylo took home the League's top honor for the second-consecutive season, guiding the Flames to another wildly successful season to earn the title of Coach of the Year.

Alongside Watts, UIC had six additional players earn Horizon League postseason honors. Taylor Cairns, Skylee James and Kayla Wedl joined Watts on the All-League First Team, while Alyssa Griman, Marley Hanlon and Maddie Spinks were given All-Freshman Team honors.

LAST TIME OUT
The Flames brought out the brooms against Youngstown State last weekend, securing the program's 17th regular season title and earn hosting rights in the Championship. UIC took game one 5-1 on Friday (May 4) and went on to take a walk-off 3-2 victory in game two and a 2-0 shutout victory in the doubleheader finale on Saturday (May 5).

SCOUTING THE FLAMES
UIC controls the top of the Horizon League standings in several categories, finishing the regular season with a .296 batting average to lead the conference. The Flames are also number one in runs (230), hits (384), RBI (203) and stolen bases (100). UIC's .296 team average ranks No. 39 in the nation and its 2.08 steals per contest puts them at No. 14.

Horizon League Player of the Year Lexi Watts is the League's leader in runs, crossing the dish 46 times in the regular season. Fellow All-League First Team member James was the No. 1 run producer in the conference, driving in 48 runs. Wedl also wrapped the regular season high up in the Horizon League standings, ranking sixth in batting average (.367) and second in RBIs behind James (35).

UIC pitchers own the lowest ERA in the League at 3.26 and keep batters to a .262 average, also lowest in the conference. Allie Trudeau (2.66 ERA) and Marley Hanlon (3.05 ERA) own the third and fourth-lowest ERAs in the Horizon League, respectively, while Karissa Frazier (3.37 ERA) finished ninth in ERA and second in opponent batting average, holding batters to a .237 average.  

SCOUTING THE RAIDERS
No. 4 Wright State capped the regular season with a three-game sweep of Cleveland State, winning game one 7-2, game two 5-2 and game three 7-5. The Raiders are hitting .235 as a squad, and look to Horizon League All-League First Team member Honnah Susor on offense, as she paces the team in batting average (.327), runs (37) and hits (48). Susor is at the top of the League in steals, and is No. 15 nationally, owning 33 swipes on the season.

Wright State's Ashley Sharp was awarded Pitcher of the Year after posting the lowest ERA in the League at 2.35. The senior also tallied the fourth-most strikeouts (116), and landed in a tie for the most wins in the Conference (13). After Sharp, Ally Russell sees the most time in the circle, owning a 4.81 ERA and a 6-9 record this season.

The Flames took the regular season series with the Raiders by a final tally of 2-1 just under two weeks ago April 27-28.

SCOUTING THE NORSE
Northern Kentucky also finished the regular season with a sweep, taking down Detroit Mercy 5-2, 7-4 and 7-0 to grab its first postseason berth in the Division-I era and a No. 5 seed in the tournament. The Norse are hitting .280 as a team and have three batters hitting above the .300 mark in Sydney Ferrante (.375), Ava Lawson (.307) and Madi Mulder (.301). Ferrante and Lawson grabbed a spot on the All-League First Team while Taylor Brummell represented the Norse on the All-League Second Team.

Ashlynn Roberts and Taylor Ginther split the majority of the time in the circle for Northern Kentucky, combining for 236.0 of The Norse's 291.0 innings. Roberts owns the team's lowest ERA at 3.17, followed closely by Ginther at 3.84. Faith Howard rounds out the staff for Northern Kentucky, owning a 4.45 ERA across 55.0 innings of work this year.

The Flames swept the Norse 3-0 in the regular season with a pair of 12-4 wins and an additional 7-3 victory.