CHICAGO -- UIC Softball will host a Senior Day celebration and its annual Vs. Cancer game on Saturday, May 7, when the Flames welcome the IUPUI Jaguars to town for a three-game series. The first game of a doubleheader is set to begin at 1 p.m., but fans are encouraged to arrive early for a pre-game ceremony celebrating the career and accomplishments of the team's lone senior this season, Tara McElligott.

McElligott participated in a UIC commencement ceremony Thursday night, earning her degree in Kinesiology: Exercise Science & Health Promotion. Teammate Maica Ingles will also graduate this weekend with a degree in psychology; she has used only two seasons of athletic eligibility and plans to return to in 2023.

The Flames will also play Vs. Cancer on Saturday. UIC, which will wear gold shoelaces Saturday to raise awareness, has also been raising funds throughout the season in support of the Pediatric Brain Tumor Foundation. The foundation, and its goals, are especially personal for McElligott as she lost her brother, John, to Neuroblastoma in February 2004, when he was only five years old. She wears the number 25 in honor of John's birthday. Additionally, McElligott's friend and former high school teammate, Courtney Schoolcraft, battled Clear Cell Sarcoma while playing collegiately at Southern Indiana. Please click here to learn more or to make a donation through Sunday, May 8.

On Friday, sophomore Dee Dee Caskey was named to the Horizon League All-Academic Team for the first time in her young career. To be eligible for consideration, a student-athlete must have a cumulative grade-point-average of 3.20 or higher, have completed at least one year at the member institution, having earned 24 semester-hour, and participate in 50 percent of the team's overall contests. Caskey was a member of the Horizon League Academic Honor Roll in the fall, her first semester of eligibility. The Indianapolis native helped the softball team win the department's Chancellor's Cup award as the large team with the highest combined team GPA in spring 2021 and fall 2021 at a mark of 3.5.

UIC enters the weekend with a chance to qualify for the 2022 Horizon League Championship. The top five teams - Oakland, Robert Morris, Cleveland State, Green Bay and Youngstown State - are locked into the tournament entering Friday, while the Flames, IUPUI and Northern Kentucky remain in the mix. The Norse control their own destiny, needing one win in three games at Purdue Fort Wayne to clinch the final spot. UIC needs three wins over the Jaguars, and help from the Mastodons in the form of three wins over NKU in order to qualify for the six-team event.

Admission to Flames Field is free for fans in 2022. Both games Saturday will also be broadcast on ESPN+.

More notes, statistics and information can be found in the UIC Game Notes PDF found in the blue box above.