FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Mark Albanese, Assistant Athletic Director for Sports Media Relations

SOMERS, Wis. (Apr. 25, 2014)-- The University of Wisconsin-Parkside softball team closes out its 2014 season this weekend at the Case Complex, hosting Great Lakes Valley Conference East Division rivals University of Illinois Springfield on Saturday and McKendree University on Sunday.
 
Saturday's game is the squad's sixth annual Pink Game in support of breast cancer awareness and research. The Rangers will be wearing pink uniforms for the twinbill and will be selling t-shirts and raffling off prizes throughout the afternoon. Sunday's game against McKendree is Senior Day with the Rangers honoring the seven student-athletes who will be playing their final game in the green and white. Both doubleheaders are slated to begin at 12 p.m.
 
About the Rangers: UW-Parkside (6-28, 5-21 GLVC) heads into the final weekend of the year having won four of its last seven games. The Rangers earned a split at Drury University last Friday on the road, rebounding from a 1-0 setback to down the Panthers 5-1 in game two. The Rangers continued its run the following day, sweeping Missouri University S&T 4-1 and 1-0.
 
Parkside took a breathier from conference action on Monday, splitting a twinbill against local rival Cardinal Stritch University. The visiting Wolves stole the first game 9-4 with a six-run sixth inning before the Rangers got home runs from both Carly Dundee and Morgan Dastych in a 13-5 mercy rule victory.
 
Two days later the Rangers were back on the diamond, facing Lewis University in Romeoville, Ill. The day began with the squad's completing a suspended game from April 16 that was tied 1-1 after seven innings. The Flyers pushed across four runs in the 11th inning, emerging with a 5-1 win in the suspended game before the hosts swept the regularly scheduled twinbill with 4-2 and 7-5 victories.
 
Kira Cooper leads the Rangers at the plate, hitting .395 on the season which currently ranks fifth in the GLVC. Kalli Gosser is hitting .315 with 13 RBIs while Colleen Cummings is hitting just a shade under .300 with a .292 average with 11 RBIs. Kirsten Luevano leads the team with eight extra base hits, including five home runs while collecting a team-best 24 RBIs.
 
In the circle, Carly Dundee leads Parkside in earned run average (4.17), complete games (8), innings pitched (95 2/3) and strikeouts (38). Kristin Kleinmeyer has three complete games and 33 strikeouts while Hayley Schneider has logged 38 2.3 innings and has one complete game to her credit.
 
About the Prairie Stars: Illinois Springfield (23-22, 14-16 GLVC) heads into the final weekend of the regular season having won six of its last eight games. The Prairie Stars run began at home against Missouri S&T on April 12, sweeping the Miners 11-2 and 9-3. UIS continued its momentum on the road, sweeping Rockhurst University 3-1 and 10-0 last Friday before splitting a twinbill against William Jewell College the next day, UIS prevailed 8-1 in the opener before suffering a 5-4 setback in game two.
 
Illinois Springfield earned a midweek split on Tuesday against McKendree, falling 3-2 in the opener before securing a 1-0 victory in the second game to salvage a split.
 
Three Prairie Stars are hitting above .300 on the season with Samantha Riss paving the way with a .354 average with a team best 11 doubles, six home runs and 31 RBIs. Tess Lamb sports a .315 average while Chelsea Minor is hitting at a .313 clip with 22 RBIs.
 
In the circle, Cheyanne Bowman and Alex Smith have shouldered the pitching duties, logging 258 2/3 of the team's 299 innings played this year. Bowman leads the team with a 2.12 earned run average with posting 77 strikeouts while Smith leads the squad in wins (14), complete games (21), innings pitched (156 1/3) and strikeouts 116.
 
About the Bearcats: McKendree (17-27, 10-20 GLVC) heads to Lewis having dropped five of its last six games. The Bearcats woes began on April 18, getting swept by host William Jewell 6-3 and 8-5. The road swing continued the next day, falling 6-0 and 5-1 at the hands of Rockhurst.
 
McKendree regrouped on Tuesday with a 3-2 win on the road at the expense of Illinois Springfield before falling 1-0 in game two, yielding a run in the bottom of the sixth inning.
 
Katie Nauman is the team's offensive leader, hitting .352 on the season with 23 RBIs. Erica Johnson owns a .343 average with 11 extra base hits and a team-high 31 RBIs while Kati Bowen is hitting .333.
 
In the circle, the Bearcats spread the load with four pitchers seeing significant action during the season. Kelsie Stoszkus owns a 3.12 earned run average with 45 strikeouts in 85 1/3 innings of action while Holly Magre has a 3.60 ERA with 32 strikeouts in 58 1/3 innings. Susan Goetze has a team-high 62 strikeouts in 63 1/3 innings while Taylor Barnouski has logged a team-high 70 innings inside the circle with an ERA of 4.30 with 29 punchouts.
 
Head-to-Head: This is the second time this season UW-Parkside will face both UIS and McKendree. The Rangers earned a doubleheader split with the Bearcats on Mar. 22 in Lebanon, Ill., taking game one 7-6 before falling 2-1 in game two. On Mar. 23 the host Prairie Stars swept the twinbill, claiming 7-6 and 13-9 victories.
 
Senior Salute: Sunday will be the final games of the careers of seven student-athletes. Those suiting up for one last game include Kira Cooper, Colleen Cummings, Diana Gordon, Kristin Kleinmeyer, Kirsten Luevano, Hayley Schneider and Lexi Sotiros.
 
Cooper owns a .299 career batting average in her three seasons with the team, collecting 72 hits and scoring 40 runs while playing in 92 games. Cummings has a .288 career average over the last four seasons, making 148 appearances and 145 starts. She has 136 base hits along with 32 career RBIs.
 
Gordon closes her career after five seasons with the green and white. Gordon has played in 102 career games, collecting 31 RBIs and 16 extra base hits. Kleinmeyer has appeared in the circle in 94 games, starting 65 and logging 33 complete games. The southpaw has 13 career wins along with 213 strikeouts.
 
Luevano sports a career average of .284 at the plate, belting 12 career home runs and 35 extra base hits. The outfielder has 79 career RBIs while starting in 165 of the 168 games she played. Schneider, a 2013 Academic All-GLVC selection, finishes with 57 appearances in the circle with four complete games.
 
Sotiros started in 146 of the 151 games she played over the past four seasons, collecting 90 base hits along with stealing 26 bases.