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

SOMERS, Wis. (Mar. 24, 2016)-- The University of Wisconsin-Parkside softball squad heads to the Hoosier State this week for a pair of Great Lakes Valley Conference doubleheaders, facing Saint Joseph's College on Friday and nationally-ranked University of Indianapolis on Saturday.
 
The Rangers and Pumas square off in Rensselaer, Indiana on Friday at 12 p.m. with the Rangers and second-ranked Greyhounds hitting the diamond at 12 p.m. (Eastern Time) on Saturday to cap off the weekend slate. Live stats will be available for all four games while live video will be available for the UIndy doubleheader.
 
About the Rangers: UW-Parkside (3-21, 0-8 GLVC) dropped a pair of doubleheaders last weekend to open the home slate at the Case Complex, falling 6-1 and 6-1 to Quincy University on Saturday before suffering 12-5 and 7-4 setbacks to Truman State University on Sunday.
 
Home runs ruled the day in game one against Quincy with all seven runs coming from the longball. The visiting Hawks owned a 2-0 lead before Rachel Seefeldt blasted a home run over the left field fence to pull UW-Parkside within a run but QU added an insurance run in the sixth and three more in the seventh for the win.
 
Game two saw the Hawks score runs in each of the first three innings, sprinting out to a 6-0 lead and never looked back to secure the sweep. Carly Dundee drove in the Rangers' lone score in the bottom of the fifth, scoring Cassie Walek who earned a free trip to first base after getting hit by pitch.
 
On Sunday, a Jordan Nichols pinch-hit grand slam with two outs in the fifth tied the score at 4-4 but the Bulldogs piled on eight runs over the final two innings to snag the 12-5 win.
 
The Rangers owned an early 1-0 lead in the nightcap before Truman pushed across four runs in the third. UW-Parkside closed within a run but TSU tacked on single runs in the fifth, sixth, and seventh innings to escape with the 7-4 win.
 
Dundee led the Rangers at the plate over the weekend, owning a .571 batting average and a 1.000 slugging percentage with two home runs during the homestand. Dundee collected a hit in all four contests, including three multi-hit games.
 
For the season, Dundee sports a team-leading .387 batting average with nine extra base hits and 18 RBIs. The junior has additionally scored 12 runs. Rachel seefeldt owns a .281 average with a team-best 14 runs scored while Raegan Fingerman has 11 RBIs on the season while Emily Bell leads the team with four stolen bases.
 
In the circle, Dundee leads the team in earned run average (4.09), appearances (13), complete games (10), innings pitched (89) and strikeouts (46). Amber Ramos and Bridget Jost have both pitched 33 1/3 innings, managing 25 and 16 strikeouts, respectively.
 
About the Pumas: Saint Joseph's (8-19, 5-3 GLVC) heads into Friday's home opener having split its last three doubleheaders. The Pumas opened GLVC play on Mar. 12 with a 2-0 and 4-3 sweep of William Jewell College in Westfield, Indiana. Saint Joseph's earned a split the following day, falling 7-4 to Rockhurst University before etching a 13-5 mercy rule win in game two. Saint Joseph's began last weekend with a 4-1 victory over Drury University before the host Panthers salvaged a split with a nailbiting 5-4 win in game two. On Sunday, host Missouri University S&T took the opener 7-3 before SJC closed the Missouri road swing with a 6-5 win.
 
Jordan Schneider owns a team-best .393 batting average and a .571 slugging percentage while Haley miller is hitting at a .337 clip with six doubles and 16 RBIs. Ashley Whitaker owns a team-leading four home runs while driving in a team-best 18 runs.
 
SJC has four pitchers who have logged at least 20 innings inside the circle with Briana Wagner leading the way with a 3.89 earned run average. Morgan Masters leads the team in appearances (20), saves (three), innings pitched (57 1/3), and strikeouts (23) while Morgan Akre has accumulated three wins inside the circle.
 
About the Greyhounds: Indianapolis (25-0, 8-0 GLVC) heads into its home opener having yet to taste defeat, ripping off 25 consecutive wins, including eight by shutout. Last weekend, the Hounds pummeled Missouri S&T, securing 10-0 and 11-1 wins over the host Miners before sweeping Drury University on Sunday. UIndy crushed the Panthers 13-0 in the opener before needing 10 innings to secure the 2-1 win in game two.
 
The Greyhounds took a breather from GLVC action on Wednesday night, sweeping host Ohio Dominican University by 9-3 and 6-1 scores.
 
Seven UIndy players with at least 25 at-bats are hitting above .300, including Emma Varsbergs who owns a team-best .462 batting average with five doubles and 17 RBIs. Natalie Lalich boats a .400 average with a team-high eight home runs and 38 RBIs.
 
Morgan Foley is UIndy pitching ace, tossing 112 1/3 innings and collecting 19 wins with a diminutive earned run average of 0.69 with 222 strikeouts. Miranda Tamayo has appeared in 45 2/3 innings, owning a 6-0 record with a 2.30 ERA and 33 punchouts.
 
Early Opener: UW-Parkside's home opener last weekend against Quincy University was the earliest the Green and White have played at the Case Complex since the 2011 season. In 2011, the Rangers faced the exact same foe on the exact same day, falling 2-1 and 5-1 to the Hawks on Mar. 19. UW-Parkside hasn't played any earlier in March at home since at least the 2002 campaign.
 
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 owns the longest hitting streak of the young season, collecting base hits in 11 consecutive contests. 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 owns the longest streak this season for safely reaching base, doing so in 14 consecutive games. Carly Dundee owns the longest active streak, touching first base in six 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.
 
2x11: A total of 11 Rangers have experienced multiple hit games during the 2016 season with Carly Dundee leading the way by accomplishing the feat on nine occasions. Additionally, nine different Rangers have experienced multi-RBI games with Dundee and Raegan Fingerman both achieving the feat three times to lead the squad.
 
Road Warriors: The Rangers played 20 road games prior to last Saturday's home opener against GLVC rival Quincy University. UW-Parkside's road odyssey involved games 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.