CHICAGO – Fresh off its first Horizon League series sweep, the UIC softball team (10-14) gears up for a pair of midweek matchups against former Horizon League foes Loyola (16-9) and Butler (10-19). The Flames will host the Ramblers on Tuesday, March 26 at 4 p.m. CT before making the trip down to Indianapolis, Ind. on Wednesday to face off with the Bulldogs at 3 p.m.

LAST TIME OUT
UIC made its Horizon League debut this past weekend with a 3-0 sweep of Cleveland State. The Flames outscored the Vikings 37-14 in the three games, racking up 42 hits to Cleveland State's 17. Junior Kayla Wedl reeled in 10 RBI on the weekend off seven hits, while also crossing the plate five times herself to earn her second Horizon League Player of the Week title this season. Senior Lexi Watts ended the weekend batting .800 in the series with eight hits, seven runs and five stolen bases, while fellow senior Skylee James batted .778 with three doubles, a home run and three RBI.  

POWER AT THE PLATE
The Flames lead the Horizon League with a .315 batting average as a club, and they also lead the conference in runs (132), RBI (121) and home runs (17). Watts (.487) and James (.471) own the top two individual spots in the conference in batting average, and Wedl rounds out the top five with her .368 average. Watts and James are also one and two in hits, tallying 38 hits and 33 hits, respectively. The Flames own four of the top five spots in the League in RBIs, as Wedl (24), Tara McElligott (22), James (20) and Griman (20) are all represented.

IN THE CIRCLE
Allie Trudeau remains in a three-way tie for most wins in the Horizon League with six after improving to 6-6 on the season on Saturday. Trudeau's 44 strikeouts on the season lands her in seventh amongst Horizon League pitchers, and her five complete games puts her at fifth. Marley Hanlon captured her second complete-game win of the season on Saturday as part of UIC's 15-1 defeat of Cleveland State. Karissa Frazier got her first save of the season on Friday, dealing the final 1.1 innings against the Vikings in route to a 17-9 victory for the Flames.

SIZING UP THE COMPETITION
City foe Loyola is fresh off a 1-2 showing against conference foe Evansville this past weekend. The Ramblers had a successful 15-4 showing in non-conference action, but is just 1-5 so far after two weekends of Missouri Valley action. Jessica Shields is batting .427 to lead the Ramblers in the category, owning 32 hits and 24 runs. The Loyola pitching staff has a combined ERA of just 1.68, led by Kiley Jones's 1.81 ERA through 73.1 innings of work. Jones has allowed just 19 earned runs and 60 hits, while striking out 42 of her batters faced. The Flames are 68-26 all-time against the Ramblers, but Loyola came out on top in last year's 1-0 pitcher's duel.

UIC and Butler will be meeting for the second time this season, after the Flames took a 3-2 comeback win over the Bulldogs back on March 8 as part of the Saluki Invitational. Butler started Big East action this weekend, dropping two out of three games to DePaul. Jenna Foreman leads the Bulldog offense with a .340 average, tallying 33 hits and 18 runs. Alyssa Graves gets the most action in the circle, owning a 3.03 ERA across 78.2 innings. The Flames are now 44-17 all-time against Butler after the earlier meeting between the two teams this season.  

UP NEXT
UIC will be back at Flames Field this weekend, facing Detroit Mercy in another Horizon League matchup.