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

SOMERS, Wis. (Apr. 15, 2016)-- The University of Wisconsin-Parkside softball team closes out its home slate this weekend, welcoming a pair of Kansas City outfits to the Case Complex. The Rangers open the weekend against Great Lakes Valley Conference foe William Jewell College before closing the homestand on Sunday against Rockhurst University.
 
The Rangers and Cardinals begin the weekend with a doubleheader on Saturday starting at noon. UW-Parkside celebrates Senior Day on Sunday prior to a noon twinbill against the Hawks. Live stats for all four games will be available at parksiderangers.com.
 
About the Rangers: It took 15 extra days but UW-Parkside (6-33, 3-19 GLVC) finally completed a sweep of Lewis University on Wednesday with Alexis Simone blasting a walkoff three-run home run in the bottom of the seventh to give the hosts the 10-7 win. The game was a resumption of a halted game from Mar. 29 that had UW-Parkside holding a 7-3 lead heading into the seventh before the Flyers tied the game with four runs as the sun was setting at the Case Complex. The umpires convened during the middle of the seventh and halted the game due to darkness before resuming the contest on Wednesday.
 
The win gave Parkside the sweep of Lewis, having won the opening contest 5-0. The two teams followed the halted game with a non-conference tilt with the Flyers prevailing 13-4 in five innings.
 
Prior to the midweek contest, the Rangers secured a twinbill split with the University of Southern Indiana on Sunday. UW-Parkside rallying from a six-run deficit to post the 9-6 win in the opener before succumbing 4-3 in extra innings in the nightcap.
 
Carly Dundee leads the team at the plate and inside the circle, owning a team-best .314 batting average with 12 extra base hits, including five home runs while driving in a team-leading 21 runs. As a pitcher, the junior leads the squad in innings pitched (133 1/3), earned run average (4.31), strikeouts (63), and complete games (14). Rachel Seefeldt owns a .295 average and has scored a team-best 20 runs and has four home runs on the season while Raegan Fingerman has 13 RBIs on the year.
 
Amber Ramos has 58 strikeouts in 74 innings of work, making 20 appearances inside the circle with an ERA of 4.82.
 
About the Cardinals: William Jewell (20-22, 10-12 GLVC) has won four of its last eight games, including a midweek split against the University of Central Missouri. The Cardinals swept Quincy University 10-4 and 6-1 last Saturday before falling victim to Truman State University the next day, getting swept 6-4 and 9-8. WJC was back on the diamond on Wednesday afternoon, falling 8-3 to Central Missouri before tallying a 7-6 win over the Jennies in game two.
 
Brooke Bernard is hitting a blistering .452 at the plate for the Cardinals with seven home runs and 44 RBIs while Maddie Greenstreet sports a .376 average with 10 extra base hits. Nona Pauline has a .346 average with seven stolen bases and 25 RBIs while Madi Giles has touched home plate a team-leadig 28 times in 2016.
 
Shelby McGraw is the staff ace for WJC, tossing 17 complete games and striking out 80 in 174 innings of action. McGraw additionally sports a team-best 3.21 earned run average while Anna Biondo has 50 punchouts in 60 1/3 innings of work.
 
About the Hawks: Rockhurst (16-24, 9-13 GLVC) heads to Wisconsin having won six of its last eight games. The Hawks split a pair of doubleheaders last weekend, downing Truman State 2-1 in game one on Saturday before getting blanked 7-0 in game two. On Sunday, visiting Quincy tallied a 2-1 victory in game one before the Hawks closed the weekend with an emphatic 8-0 win.
 
Hannah Pyle is the only Rockhurst player hitting above .300, owning a .360 average with seven extra base hits and 13 RBIs. Madison Wagner has scored a team-high 15 runs while stealing 19 bases while Danielle Cross has driven in 11 runs.
 
Bridgette Sappington leads the Hawks inside the circle with a 3.91 earned run average with 18 complete games and 88 strikeouts in 149 2/3 innings of action. Shannon Greene has 13 complete games in 2016 with 48 strikeouts in 116 2/3 innings.
 
Cardinals at the Case Complex: Saturday will be William Jewell's first appearance at the Case Complex since joining the GLVC in the 2012 softball season. The teams were supposed to first meet in Somers on March 10, 2012 before poor field conditions moved the twinbill south to Romeoville, Illinois while in 2014 a deluge of rain and lightning caused the April 12th game to be cancelled.
 
Senior Salute: UW-Parkside will honor its two seniors: Amber Ramos and Alexis Simone on Sunday prior to the team's final home doubleheader of the season. A Highland Community College transfer, Ramos has appeared in 42 games over the past two seasons, making 19 starts in the circle. She has 126 strikeouts in a Ranger uniform, including a 12 strikeout effort against the University of Illinois Springfield on April 3.
 
The lone four-year player on the team, Simone has been behind the plate in 141 career games, including 124 starts. The Carol Stream, Illinois native has 15 career home runs, including Wednesday's walkoff winner and 55 RBIs. Both Ramos and Simone intend to graduate with a degree in criminal justice.
 
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: Four of the Rangers' six wins this season have come when striking 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 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 the University of Findlay.
 
More Streaks: Madison Manders owns the longest streak this season for safely reaching base, doing so in 14 consecutive games. Kellie Fenza has the longest active streak, touching first base in five consecutive games.
 
3x10: UW-Parkside has gone into extra innings on four occasions this season with three of those contests extending 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.
 
12x14: 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 12 occasions, including two outings with three hits. Additionally, 14 different Rangers have experienced multi-RBI games with Dundee leading the team by achieving the feat four times while Raegan Fingerman, Alexis Simone, and Courtney Ellingson have a trio of multi-RBI games on their 2016 resumes.
 
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.