LEADING OFF 
Loyola Chicago (12-30, 7-10 A-10) heads to UMass for another Atlantic 10 clash, featuring a doubleheader on Friday, April 18 at 1 and 3 p.m. CT and the closer on Saturday, April 19 at 11 a.m. CT.  

QUICK HITS 

• Against Northwestern, senior infielder Haley Wallace recorded the Ramblers' lone hit with her 10th double of the season.
• In the series against Dayton, senior infielder Bella Crimaldi recorded her first homer of the season, and second of her career, in the opener (April 12), and rookie Alli Pawlowicz launched her fifth home run of the season in the finale (April 13). The Ramblers combined for 17 hits against the Flyers, with Crimaldi leading the charge on five hits throughout the weekend.   
• Wallace and junior outfielder Sierra Sass lead the team in hits with 36 each. Sass leads Loyola at the plate with a .346 batting average and paces the conference with a 0.947 stolen base percentage, good for 12th in the country. Sophomore utility Maddy Hickey has the team high 19 RBIs and the leading .423 on-base percentage while Pawlowicz leads the team in home runs with five.  
• Senior pitcher Peyton Pepkowski ranks second in the A-10 and 53rd in the NCAA with 111 strikeouts.   
• Pepkowski recorded her 600th career strikeout against Saint Joseph's (March 22), becoming just the second Rambler in program history to do so.   
• Head coach Alicia Abbott clinched her 100th career win in the Maroon and Gold after Loyola defeated St. John's, 2-1, on Feb. 14 in walk-off fashion.        

SCOUTING REPORT 
UMass is currently 11-24 overall and 4-7 in A-10 play, picking up its first conference win in game one of the series with George Washington, winning the series 2-1 against St. Joseph's and splitting, 1-1, with St. Bonaventure. The Minutewomen are coming off a 10-7 overtime victory against Dartmouth.  

Sophomore outfielder Riley Karier leads the team in hits (30), runs (15) and at the plate on a .291 batting average while second-year infielder Odyssey Torres has the team high 16 RBIs. Inside the circle, sophomore pitcher Hannah Streicher (3-5) rides the team low 3.04 ERA and starting pitcher senior Julianne Bolton (5-8) is the strikeout leader with 67.  

SERIES HISTORY 
In the all-time series between the two programs, Loyola holds the series advantage 5-2. Last season, the Ramblers swept the series against the Minutewomen in Chicago and in the first meeting as A-10 opponents, Loyola won the series 2-1 in Amherst, Mass. Pepkowski and Andie Broniewicz combined for 17 strikeouts in the 2024 series.  

FOLLOW THE ACTION 
Stream the series on ESPN+ and follow Loyola Softball on Instagram and Twitter/X @RamblersSB for in-game updates.