CHICAGO -- After opening the season with its first 17 games away from home, the UIC softball team returns to Flames Field on Sunday, March 20 to begin a three-game Horizon League series against Youngstown State. UIC and YSU will battle in a doubleheader on Sunday before wrapping up the set with a game Monday, March 21 at 11 a.m.

UIC (3-14, 0-2 HL ) opened conference play last weekend with a weather-shortened series at Purdue Fort Wayne. The Mastodons jumped out to a four-run lead in the first game of a doubleheader on March 10 before Jordyn Cebedo's first career home run pulled the Flames within a run on a single swing. Purdue Fort Wayne tacked on two more runs however to win by a final score of 6-3. In the nightcap, the UIC used a four-run fifth inning highlights by freshman Hailey Cowing's first career home run to turn a 4-3 deficit into a 7-4 lead. The advantage held until a grand slam in the bottom of the sixth eventually sank the visitors.

The pitching staff has been keeping the Flames turned up in the early going this season. UIC leads the conference in earned run average with a mark of 3.29, with an opposing batting average of .263, second best in the league. Junior Christina Toniolo individually ranks second in the Horizon League with a 1.82 ERA in a team-high 50.0 innings pitched. Sophomore Alyssa McIntosh was named Horizon League Pitcher of the Week on March 9 after she fired an eight-inning complete game shutout with five strikeouts and no walks against Army.

UIC's offense has been paced by the squad's lone senior, Tara McElligott, among others. McElligott is batting a team-best .317, which ranks 10th in the conference. She's clubbed a pair of home runs and driven in eight of UIC's 31 runs early this season. She's also added two doubles and a triple. Alannah Cran is also swinging a hot bat with a four-game hitting streak entering this weekend. She's hitting .318 on the season and has reached safely in all but one of the 10 games that she has played.

Youngstown State (13-10, 3-0 HL) comes town as one of three unbeaten teams in conference play as it swept Detroit Mercy at home during opening weekend. The Penguins have been prodigious offensively with a batting average, .278, that is more than 20 points higher than any other conference club. YSU also leads the Horizon League in total bases, slugging percentage, and on-base percentage. In the circle, YSU's 3.32 ERA ranks only behind UIC's. The Penguins have fanned a league-best 180 batters, but have also issued 95 free passes.

The Flames have won nine of the last 11 games in the series dating back to the 2018 campaign. The teams split four games in the regular season at YSU last spring, but the Flames won a Horizon League Tournament showdown by knocking off the hosts and top seed, 5-4, on May 14, 2021. The following day, UIC knocked off Oakland to claim the trophy and earn the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.

Admission to Flames Field is free for fans in 2022. Both games of Sunday's doubleheader will be streamed on ESPN+. Live stats will be available for all three contests.