Live Stats: Oakland (Fri.) | Gardner-Webb | Sacred Heart | Hartford | Oakland (Sun.)
 
CHICAGO (February 14, 2019) – After a perfect 5-0 start to the regular season, the Loyola University Chicago softball team travels to Boiling Springs, North Carolina for the Runnin' Bulldog Softball Tournament. The five-game slate matches the Ramblers up with Oakland and Gardner-Webb on Friday (Feb. 15), Sacred Heart and Hartford on Saturday (Feb. 16), and Oakland again on Feb. 17.
 
Last Time Out: The Maroon and Gold swept the Total Control Sports Invitational by going 5-for-5 in the win column. The team notched a +12 run differential over the course of the victories. The Ramblers' offense was anchored by freshman Abbey Jacobsen, who registered a slash line of .538/.500./769 in her five games played. The Ramblers were stellar in the circle as well, led by Kiley Jones winning all three of her starts, including a complete-game shutout in Loyola's opening day victory over UM-Kansas City (Feb. 8). In 35 innings pitched, Loyola gave up a total of one earned run for a team ERA of 0.20 – the best in the nation entering Thursday (Min. 15 IP).
 
A Look at the Grizzlies: The Ramblers will serve as Oakland's first opponent for the 2019 season. The Grizzlies are coming off a 23-27 overall record last year, but went 11-8 in Horizon League play and made it all the way to the conference's championship game. OU returns the Horizon League Freshman of the Year in Madison Jones. The third baseman set program records in slugging percentage (.761), home runs (13) and runs scored (43) last year. She finished the season on a 26-game hitting streak.
 
A Look at the Bulldogs: Gardner-Webb is hosting its second consecutive tournament to begin the season, and went 3-1 last weekend to kick-start the year. The Ramblers will be tasked with slowing down the hot-hitting Bulldog lineup that posted 37 runs in four games, specifically Autumn Owen. The catcher's 4-for-9 performance at the plate last weekend netted her Big South Freshman of the Week.
 
A Look at the Pioneers: Like Oakland, Sacred Heart's first games of the season will be this weekend's tournament at Gardner-Webb. The preseason favorites to win the Northeast Conference will look to build off a season where they won 31 games and went 10-6 in conference play. The Pioneers had three players earn All-Conference honors last season, including the Pitcher of the Year in Emily Orosco.
 
A Look at the Hawks: Hartford, picked to finish sixth in the America East Conference, is looking to rebound from a disappointing 10-32 season in 2018. The Hawks return two players that were named to last year's AEC All-Rookie Team in Danielle Rocheleau and Lily Spencer – the team's leaders in batting average from a year ago. Rocheleau clubbed .342 to rank fifth in the conference.
 
Series Stuff: Loyola has limited history against its weekend opponents, having played each of them less than three times. The most recent tilt between any of them came in 2005 in a 4-3 loss to Sacred Heart. Loyola beat Gardner-Webb twice in 2003, while also upending the Pioneers earlier that season. Saturday will be the first time Loyola has played Hartford.
 
Up Next: Loyola will be back in the Southeast region of the United States next weekend (Feb. 22-24) for the Mercer Tournament (Macon, Ga.). To wrap up the season's opening month, the Ramblers square off with Indiana, Mercer, Akron and North Carolina A&T State.
 
#OnwardLU