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

SOMERS, Wis. (Mar. 10, 2016)-- The University of Wisconsin-Parkside softball squad begins Great Lakes Valley Conference play this weekend, traveling to Saint Louis to face a pair of West Division foes. Weather concerns has jostled the weekend slate as the Rangers will open on Friday with a doubleheader against seventh-ranked University of Missouri-Saint Louis before clashing with Maryville University in a twinbill on Saturday.
 
Friday's series against the Tritons gets underway at 3 p.m. at the UMSL Softball Field while the Rangers and Saints are slated to battle at 12 p.m. at Lindenwood University's Lou Brock Sports Complex. The weekend tour of Saint Louis was originally slated to be a Saturday-Sunday affair but the threat of precipitation has forced the slate to move up by a day.
 
About the Rangers: UW-Parkside (3-13) took a breather last week after shoehorning 12 games into a nine-day stretch to close out the month of February. That stretch saw the Rangers participate in games in three different states, beginning with a five-game weekend slate in Oklahoma. UW-Parkside dropped a midweek twinbill against No. 21 Winona State University (7-4 and 12-4) on Feb. 24 inside the Rochester Dome before capping the month with five more games this time inside the Rosemont Dome in suburban Chicago.
 
Parkside finished its Oklahoma trip by winning two of the five games, collecting wins over Lindenwood (4-1) on Feb. 20 and against host Northeastern State University (9-7 in 10 innings) on Feb. 22. Four days later in the Rosemont Dome, UW-Parkside pounded the University of Findlay 8-1 only to suffer a 1-0 setback to Walsh University in a game the Green and White stranded eight runners on base.

The following day, the Rangers suffered a pair of close defeats, falling 4-2 to Ashland University and 7-6 to Grand Valley State University before capping off the team's indoor slate with a 5-1 setback to defending Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Champion Wayne State University on Feb. 28.
 
Carly Dundee paces the Ranger offense through the first 16 games of the year, owning a .340 batting average and a .532 slugging percentage. The junior has mashed five extra base hits while collecting a team-best 14 RBIs. Rachel Seefeldt is hitting at a .318 clip, scoring a team-leading 10 runs with Raegan Fingerman (.317) and Emily Bell (.308) both hitting above .300.
 
In the circle, Dundee owns a 3.74 earned run average, collecting 33 strikeouts in 63 2/3 innings of work. The righthander has made nine starts for the Rangers, going the distance in seven of those games. Bridget Jost has logged 24 2/3 innings inside the circle, netting 16 strikeouts while Amber Ramos has 12 punchouts in just 15 1/3 innings of action.
 
About the Tritons: Seventh-ranked Missouri-Saint Louis (18-1) heads into conference play riding a seven game win streak, yielding just three runs during that stretch. The Tritons lone blemish was a 2-1 extra innings defeat to then No. 16 West Virginia Wesleyan College on Feb. 27.
 
11 of UMSL's 18 wins have been shutouts thanks in part to the pitching prowess of Hannah Perryman who has already been named NFCA National Pitcher of the Week twice in 2016. The southpaw owns a miniscule 0.89 earned run average with a 14-1 record and 10 shutouts. Perryman has collected 171 strikeouts in 102 innings of action and limits the opposition to hitting just .128 at the plate. Carly Kingery has a 0.64 ERA in 22 innings of labor with 32 strikeouts for the nationally-ranked Tritons.
 
Offensively, Erin Walker leads the team with a .435 batting average while Alicia Shivers boasts a .429 average at the dish. Sara Kern leads the team in home runs (eight) and RBIs (23) while Alex Stupek is a force on the base paths with nine stolen bases in 2016.
 
About the Saints: Maryville (8-2) heads into the week riding a six game win streak. The Saints opened the season by splitting doubleheaders in Florida against Ave Maria University (4-2 & 5-6) on Feb. 12 and Lynn University (7-5 & 2-5) the following day. MU closed the trip with 9-6 and 9-7 wins over Keiser University and has been red-hot since, disposing of former GLVC institution Kentucky Wesleyan College 6-5 and 2-1 on Feb. 20 before collecting 10-0 and 2-1 wins over Lincoln College on Tuesday.
 
Wendy Macias owns a team-best .464 batting average with five doubles while Ashley Marks owns a .438 average. Alex Flasch leads the team with 10 RBIs and seven extra base hits, boasting a .893 slugging percentage and a .429 average while Courtney Ferguson is the fourth Saint to be hitting above .400, sporting a .409 average in 22 at-bats.
 
Macias leads the Saints in the circle, boasting a 4-0 record with a 2.41 earned run average. The senior has notched 30 strikeouts and tossed four complete games while Nikki Taylor has pitched a team-high 30 2/3 innings, collecting three wins and one save.
 
Hot Start: All three wins this season have come when the Rangers strike first. UW-Parkside took a 1-0 lead in the top of the fourth inning against Lindenwood, owned a 1-0 edge in the second in the extra innings win over Northeastern State, and piled on four runs in the opening frame in the team's blowout win over Findlay.
 
Hitting Streaks: Raegan Fingerman has collected a hit in all but two games this season, including a streak of 11 straight games with a hit. Fingerman's streak began against Saint Cloud State University on Feb. 13 and came to a close on Feb. 28 as the junior had just one opportunity at the plate as a pinch hitter. Highlighting the streak was a three hit, three-RBI effort in the squad's win over Findlay.
 
More Streaks: Madison Manders has proved adept as a leadoff hitter, safely reaching base in 14 consecutive games while Cassie Walek and Carly Dundee are tied for the long active hitting streak, both collecting hits in five consecutive contests.
 
2x10: UW-Parkside has gone into extra innings on two occasions this season with both contests extended to the 10th inning. International tiebreaker rules went into effect in both games during the 10th with a runner placed on second to start the inning. The Rangers fell 7-6 to Rogers State University in the first 10-inning affair on Feb. 20 before taking down Northeastern State University 9-7 two days later.
 
Road Warriors: The Rangers will play 20 games prior to the home opener on Mar. 19 against GLVC rival Quincy University. UW-Parkside's road odyssey will involve game in four different states, logging indoor contests in both Minnesota and Illinois along with outdoor games in Missouri and Oklahoma.
 
Preseason Prognostications: The Rangers received 24 points in the poll to slot 16th in the annual GLVC preseason coaches' poll. Three-time defending league champion University of Missouri-Saint Louis secured the top spot with 10 of the 16 first place votes and 220 total points while the University of Indianapolis was picked second with the remaining six first place endorsements and 216 points. Truman State University was picked third with Bellarmine University rounding out the top four.
 
The GLVC will conduct a true round-robin schedule for the second consecutive season with every team facing the other 15 GLVC schools in a doubleheader. The top eight teams by winning percentage will qualify for the GLVC Tournament held from April 29-May 1 in East Peoria, Illinois.