CHICAGO – The No. 3 seed UIC softball team (26-21, 23-11 HL) will make its way to Youngstown, Ohio this week to compete in the 2021 Horizon League Softball Championship. The Flames have received the No. 3 seed and will be facing off with No. 2 seed Oakland (24-14, 23-11) in their first game of the tournament on Thursday, May 13 at 2 p.m. CT.

Also facing off on Thursday will be the No. 1 seed and host Youngstown State battling with No. 4 seed Robert Morris. The winner of both games will advance into the winner's side of the bracket, while the losers of the two games will face off with one another in an elimination game on Thursday at 5 p.m. CT.

LAST TIME OUT
The Flames wrapped up the regular season with a trio of losses to city-foe DePaul, falling 4-3 in extras on Friday (May 7) before finishing out the series with a doubleheader loss to the Blue Demons. Cassie Kaelber led for the Flames in the series with four hits, while Maica Ingles paced the team in RBI with two.

BRINGING OUT THE BATS
Heading into the Championship, UIC stands at second in the League in batting, averaging .288 at the plate as a team. The Flames offense leads the conference in hits (364) and stolen bases (76), while checking in at second in runs (245), RBI (218), slugging percentage (.440) and on-base percentage (.358).  

Kayla Wedl continues to pace both the Flames and the League at the plate, leading the conference in nearly every offensive category, including runs (57), hits (66), RBIs (48), slugging percentage (.844), stolen bases (27), doubles (14), triples (8) and homers (13). Nationally, Wedl's 8 triples lead the way, and she also checks in at sixth in the nation in total bases (135), eighth in runs per game (1.21), ninth in hits, 22nd in stolen bases, and 25th in slugging percentage.

Junior Tara McElligott has scored the fifth-most runs in the League with 32, followed by redshirt sophomore Maica Ingles in a tie for sixth with 28 runs and freshman Dee Dee Caskey in a tie for 11th with 26 runs. Sophomore Samantha Ferguson lands in a tie for 10th in the League in hits with 44, while senior Cassie Kaelber follows closely in a tie for 13th with 43 hits on the season so far. Ferguson has driven in 26 runs this year to tie for ninth in the League, while freshman Emma Crowley joins McElligott in a tie for 14th in RBI, driving in 24 runs apiece.

HEATING UP THE CIRCLE
As a team, the UIC softball pitching staff owns a 3.24 earned run average, putting them at fourth in the Horizon League. Senior Marley Hanlon leads the Flames with a 1.66 ERA, putting her at second in the League. The senior is 9-4 this season, putting her in a tie for eighth-most wins in the conference.

Freshman Miranda Gomez comes in at 14th in the League, owning a 3.35 ERA through 77.1 innings pitched, while sophomore Christina Toniolo follows behind Gomez with a 3.99 ERA through a team-high 128.0 innings. Toniolo owns the fourth-most wins in the conference with 12 and she also comes in at 12th in the League in strikeouts with 62 so far this season. 

SCOUTING THE COMPETITION
No. 2 Oakland finished the regular season with an identical 23-11 record in regular-season Horizon League play but earned the higher seed with its 3-1 series win over the Flames during the regular season. Madison Jones (.395), Lauren Griffith (.392) and Cammie Brummitt (.372) all land in the League's top-10 in batting average, coming in at third, fourth and seventh, respectively. As a team, the Golden Grizzlies own the League's top batting average, hitting .304 as a squad this season. In the circle, Oakland boasts a team ERA of 2.83 to rank third in the conference, led by a 1.82 ERA from Sydney Campbell. Campbell also checks in at eighth in the League in strikeouts, fanning 77 batters during the regular season. The Flames own a 15-12 advantage in the all-time series against the Golden Grizzlies, despite dropping the regular-season series between the two teams, 3-1.