ORLANDO, Fla. (February 26, 2020) – After a week off, the Loyola University Chicago softball team is back on the road for a trip to Longwood, Fla. for The Spring Games. The Ramblers will compete in a series of six games in three days, playing against teams such as No. 12 Kentucky (Feb. 28), Western Michigan (Feb. 28), Albany (Feb. 29 and March 1), Dartmouth (Feb. 29), and Detroit Mercy (March 1). All games will be broadcasted on flosoftball.com. The only game with live stats will be against Kentucky at 2:30 p.m. CT on Friday.
Last Time Out: Loyola (7-3) finished 4-1 at the Bearkat Classic nearly two weeks ago, with three of their four wins being shutouts. In the Ramblers 12-0 victory over George Mason on Feb. 15, junior
Madison Veres and freshman
Dani Brown combined to throw a no-hitter and only allowed three walks total, while junior
Allyson Ivey drove in five RBI. During Loyola's first game against the Patriots on Feb. 14, sophomore
Sydney Ruggles pitched all seven innings, only allowing six hits and two walks. Senior
Jessica Shields now leads the Ramblers with a .467 batting average, 14 hits, 12 runs and 30 at-bats, while Ivey leads the Rambler with a .600 slugging percentage, 14 RBI and one home run.
Scouting the Wildcats: No. 12 Kentucky currently sits 12-3 overall and is off to it's best start record-wise since the 2014 season, which saw UK advance to the Women's College World Series for the first time in program history. Senior Alex Martens leads the nation in RBI right now, having logged 26 through the opening 15 games of the season. Senior Bailey Vick is recently coming off of the best statistical weekend of her career, hitting .750 on last week with 15 hits in 20 at bats, and having been named the Southeastern Conference Player of the Week, D1Softball National Player of the Week and Justin's World of Softball Co-Player of the Week.
Scouting the Broncos: Western Michigan (2-7) finished 1-4 at the Bruin Challenge in Nashville, Tenn. last week. The Broncos defeated Belmont 8-6 in their second win of the season. WMU's other win this season was an upset over #22 Arizona State, 9-7. Junior Sydney Stefanick leads the Broncos with a .429 batting average, .643 slugging percentage, 12 hits, three doubles and two stolen bases. Head coach Kathy Leitke is in her 20th season in Kalamazoo and 29th overall as head coach. Leitke has tallied over 700 career wins. Last season, Western Michigan scored 218 runs on 353 hits, 57 doubles and 28 home runs to finish 18-28 (9-11 Mid-American Conference).
Scouting the Great Danes: Albany (3-2) kicked off The Spring Games tournament in Madiera Beach, Fla. with wins over Manhattan, Merrimack and Providence. Freshman Madison Petrella was named America East Rookie of the Week on Tuesday after pacing the Great Danes offense, hitting .571 with three doubles, two home runs and nine RBIs. Petrella hit her first collegiate home run in the win against Merrimack and then followed it up with a two-run shot in their 7-6 victory over Manhattan. Albany's 6-1 victory over Merrimack last week also saw junior Alexis Phillips record a three-run triple. Head coach Chris Cannata, a five-time America East Conference Coach of the Year, is in her 26th season with the Great Danes.
Scouting the Big Green: Dartmouth (3-2) is currently riding a two-game win streak with victories over Ohio and North Carolina A&T at the Charleston Classic in South Carolina. Sophomore Brooke Plonka was dominant in the tournament, coming in as a reliever in game one against No. 25 Virginia Tech and striking out five over the final 2.0 innings. Plonka earned her first win over Charleston and picked up the win with 14 K's in a complete-game shutout. She also threw a combined no-hitter against North Carolina A&T and was named Ivy League Player of the Week.
Scouting the Titans: Detroit Mercy is on the hunt for its first victory, having posted a 0-13 record so far this season. Sophomore Taryn Peru leads the Titans with six RBI, three home runs and a .615 slugging percentage.
Series Stuff:
- Loyola is meeting Kentucky and Albany for the first time.
- The last match-up between Loyola and Western Michigan was on March 16, 2013 and resulted in a 8-6 Loyola loss. The all-time series is tied, 2-2 as the teams face off for the fifth time.
- The Ramblers have only met Dartmouth one time on March 7, 2015 and fell, 5-0.
- Detroit Mercy and Loyola have a long history trailing back to when the Ramblers competed in the Horizon League. The teams met just last year on February 8 and Loyola snagged the 3-1 victory. The Ramblers lead the all-time series with the Titans, 26-2.
Up Next: The Maroon & Gold continue competing in The Spring Games next week, playing teams such as Florida Gulf Coast, St. Bonaventure, Central Michigan, Iowa and South Dakota State. The tournament takes place March 5-7.
