CHICAGO – The UIC softball team (26-18) will close out the regular season this weekend, making the short trip up to Lincoln Park to take on city-rival DePaul (22-9) in a three-game series. The Flames and Blue Demons will kick off the series with a single game on Friday, May 7 at 2:30 p.m. CT before closing out the series with a doubleheader on Saturday, May 8 at noon. 

LAST TIME OUT
The Flames wrapped up Horizon League play last weekend with a 3-1 series win on the road at IUPUI. UIC was victorious in the first three games of the series - taking game one 11-2, game two 3-2 (8) and game three 1-0 but were unable to summon enough of a comeback to take game four, falling 9-6. Fifth-year senior Kayla Wedl was named Horizon League Player of the Week for her efforts, batting .615 with eight hits, three home runs, seven runs and seven RBIs in the series for her third weekly award of the season and 10th of her career.

BRINGING OUT THE BATS
Heading into the final week of the regular season, UIC stands at second in the League in batting, averaging .292 at the plate as a team. The Flames offense leads the conference in RBIs (215), hits (344), runs (241), on-base percentage (.365) and stolen bases (74), while checking in at second in slugging percentage (.454), home runs (31) and walks (113).

Kayla Wedl continues to pace both the Flames and the League at the plate, leading the conference in nearly every offensive category, including batting average (.432), RBIs (48), slugging percentage (.892), runs (55), hits (64), stolen bases (27) doubles (13), 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 (132), seventh in runs per game (1.25), eighth in hits, 14th in stolen bases, and 17th in slugging percentage.

Junior Tara McElligott has scored the fourth-most runs in the League with 32, followed by redshirt sophomore Maica Ingles in sixth with 27 runs and freshman Dee Dee Caskey in a tie for seventh with 26 runs. Sophomore Samantha Ferguson lands in a tie for eighth in the League in hits with 42, while senior Cassie Kaelber follows closely at 13th with 39 hits on the season so far. Ferguson has driven in 26 runs this year to tie for seventh in the League, while freshman Emma Crowley has driven in 24 runs so far in her premiere campaign to rank 13th in the conference.

HEATING UP THE CIRCLE
As a team, the UIC softball pitching staff owns a 3.21 earned run average, putting them at fourth in the Horizon League. Senior Marley Hanlon leads the Flames with a 1.55 ERA, putting her at second in the League. The senior is 9-4 this season after picking up a 1-0 shutout win at IUPUI on Saturday (May 1), putting her in a tie for seventh-most wins in the conference.

Freshman Miranda Gomez comes in at 14th in the League, owning a 3.26 ERA through 77.1 innings pitched, while sophomore Christina Toniolo follows behind Gomez in 19th with a 4.01 ERA through 118.2 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 59 so far this season. 

SCOUTING THE COMPETITION
DePaul is 22-9 on the season with a 13-1 record in Big East action. The Blue Demons are fresh off a three-game sweep of Butler, outscoring the Bulldogs 10-2 in the three-game set. Senior Jessica Cothern owns the best average at the plate, batting .353 with a team-high 30 hits. Sophomore Brooke Johnson drives in the most runs, owning 23 RBI on the season, while senior Angela Scalzitti crosses the plate the most with 22 runs on the season. In the circle, seniors Krista Dalgarn and Natalie Halvorson split most of the action, dealing 95.0 innings and 81.0 innings, respectively. Both seniors own identical 3.02 records and combine for 20 of the team's 22 wins. The Flames are 33-54 all-time against the crosstown rival, coming up short in the last meeting between the two teams on April 20, 2019, 3-1.