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

SOMERS, Wis. (Mar. 31, 2016)-- Downstate Illinois is the next destination for the University of Wisconsin-Parkside softball squad, facing off against Great Lakes Valley Conference rivals McKendree University and University of Illinois Springfield in a pair of weekend doubleheaders.
 
The trip begins on Saturday in Lebanon, Illinois with the Rangers and Bearcats hitting the field at 12 p.m. UW-Parkside concludes the trip on Sunday, heading north to Springfield to face the Prairie Stars in a twinbill set to begin at noon. Live stats will be available for both doubleheaders on parksiderangers.com.
 
About the Rangers: UW-Parkside (4-25, 1-12 GLVC) heads into the weekend fresh off a 5-0 shutout of arch-rival Lewis University on Tuesday afternoon.
 
The Rangers wasted little time asserting their dominance, plating three runs in the bottom of the first, including a pair off a Caressa DeRossett single to right field. An Alexis Simone walk with the bases loaded scored Rachel Seefeldt for the early 3-0 lead while a wild pitch made it a four run buffer in the third inning. Jordan Nichols closed out the scoreline in the fifth, belting a single down the line to score Madison Manders.
 
Raegan Fingerman was dialed in at the plate with a three-for-three effort while Carly Dundee collected the complete game shutout, allowing five hits and striking out three.
 
UW-Parkside owned a 7-3 lead heading into the seventh inning in game two before the Flyers piled on four to tie the game. The contest was halted due to darkness midway through the seventh and will be resumed on Wednesday at 3 p.m. at the Case Complex.
 
Dundee leads the Rangers at the plate and in the circle, owning a team-best .323 batting average with nine extra base hits and 19 RBIs while sporting a 3.89 earned run average with 13 complete games and 52 strikeouts. Seefeldt owns a .321 on-base percentage and has scored a team-best 16 runs while Fingerman boasts 11 RBIs on the year.
 
Amber Ramos owns a 4.38 ERA in the circle with 31 strikeouts while Bridget Jost has 16 strikeouts in her 12 appearances.
 
About the Bearcats: McKendree (13-19, 7-7 GLVC) heads into the weekend on a modest two-game win streak after taking two from travel partner Illinois Springfield on Tuesday. The Bearcats allowed just two hits in the opener, emerging with the 8-0 mercy rule victory before scoring the first six runs in a 9-6 win to secure the sweep.
 
Prior to the midweek set, McKendree swept Bellarmine University (8-5 and 6-2) before getting swept by the University of Southern Indiana (12-5 and 5-1). The Bearcats biggest win of the season arguably came on March 19, blanking then seventh-ranked University of Missouri-saint Louis 2-0 at Bearcat Field.
 
Five total Bearcats are hitting above .300 on the 2016 campaign, led by Hanna Branch who sports a .378 average ay the dish with 13 doubles and 22 RBIs. Brooke Gajewski has a .357 average with a team-best 25 RBIs while Marla Schulte owns a .333 average with 12 RBIs. On the basepaths, Jamie Doggendorf has a team-high 19 stolen bases on 20 attempts.
 
Holly Magre and Maci Ingram handle the bulk of the pitching duties, owning earned run averages of 2.49 and 3.03, respectively. Magre notched a team-leading 98 strikeouts in 95 2/3 innings of labor with an 8-6 record while Ingram has 74 strikeouts in 69 1/3 innings of work.
 
About the Prairie Stars: Illinois Springfield (10-22, 2-12 GLVC) heads into the weekend, mired in a 10-game slump while dropping its last 12 GLVC games. The Prairie Stars last tasted a victory on March 16, steamrolling Division III Blackburn College 21-0 and 12-3 in the home opener at the Land of Lincoln Complex. Since then it has been five GLVC doubleheader sweeps, including 8-0 and 9-6 setbacks to McKendree in a midweek tilt.
 
The Prairie Stars lone triumphs in GLVC play came on opening day, sweeping host Quincy University 1-0 and 9-4 on March 11 before getting dispatched 2-0 and 6-1 the following day by Truman State University.
 
Brittany Miller is the lone UIS batter hitting above .300, owning a .326 average with 13 extra base knocks and 14 RBIs. Amanda Gosbeth and Ashli King sit tied for the team lead in RBIs with 15 while Madi Torry has touched home plate a team-leading 19 times in 2016.
 
Jaycee Craver is the workhorse inside the circle, handling 105 1/3 of the 208 1/3 innings played with 77 strikeouts and a 4.78 earned run average. Alexandria Smith has seen 66 2/3 innings of action, fanning 37 while Rachel Goff owns a team-best 3.72 ERA in her limited action.
 
Early Opener: UW-Parkside's home opener on March 19 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 four 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. UW-Parkside's latest triumph was a 5-0 shutout of Lewis, putting up three runs in the opening frame.
 
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. Kellie Fenza owns the longest active streak, touching first base in seven consecutive contests.
 
3x10: UW-Parkside has gone into extra innings on three occasions this season with all three contests extended to the 10th inning. International tiebreaker rules went into effect in two of the three games with a runner placed on second to start the 10th-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. UW-Parkside's most recent 10-inning escapade was a 6-5 defeat to host Saint Joseph's College on Mar. 25.
 
2x12: A total of 12 Rangers have experienced multiple hit games during the 2016 season with Carly Dundee leading the way by accomplishing the feat on nine occasions. Additionally, 11 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 the March 19 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.