BOURBONNAIS, Ill. – The Olivet Nazarene University softball team starts its quest for its third straight NAIA National Championship berth as they play in the CCAC Tournament on Thursday through Saturday. The Tigers, who holds the second-seed, plays the seventh-seeded Fighting Bees of Saint Ambrose University.
PREVIEWING THE BEES
The Tigers swept the Fighting Bees of Saint Ambrose, 10-0 and 3-1, in Davenport on Saturday, April 9th. In those games, Kori Fricke and Emily Blucker combined for 13 hits, one run, and 11 strikeouts. Blucker, in game two, struck out 10, which is one away from her career high. On the season, St. Ambrose finished with a 25-15 record and 10-12 in the CCAC. They finished the season losers of six of their last seven games. The Fighting Bees are led by Alyssa Schumacher who bats .424 and Olivia McClintock who recorded 58 hits this season. Erica Ralfs leads the Fighting Bees with a 14-6 record in the circle with 95 strikeouts. The Tigers have won 12 straight against Saint Ambrose.
TALE OF TWO SEASONS
The Tigers kicked off the 2021 season with a 9-7 record as they split games with Indiana Tech and went 8-6 on their Spring Break Trip. Since then, the Tigers went 20-4 and carried a team ERA of 2.23. Fricke led the Tigers during that stretch only losing once in the circle while Blucker went 6-2 with a 1.74 ERA. Olivia Flinn led the team in ERA at a 1.16 clip. Flinn went 4-1 with 26 strikeouts during that stretch. Megan Mann was the leading hitter for the Tigers as she hit six home runs and drove-in 27 runs while carrying a .419 batting average. Fricke hit eight homers to lead the team, Haley Dobson led the team with 10 doubles , and Matti Lanie notched three triples to lead the team.
IT IS NOT HOW YOU START, IT IS HOW YOU FINISH
ONU ended the regular season winning their final 10 games of the season. They have outscored opponents 58-20, including allowing three or fewer runs in eight of those games. In those games, Tiger pitching amasses a team ERA of 1.15 and 41 strikeouts. Zoe Oshiro and Lanie led the Tigers with a batting clip of .406 with 13 hits. Fricke led the Tigers with four home runs and 12 driven-in during that stretch.
QUEST FOR 30**
The Tigers are seeking their 30th win of the season when they play Saint Ambrose on Thursday. This would be the 19th straight season, in which the Tigers have won 30 or more games. Head Coach Hannah Gardner has been at the forefront for seven of those seasons. Earlier in the season, coach Gardner recorded her 200th win in the game on March 8th versus Concordia (Neb.).
HOW TO FOLLOW YOUR TIGERS FOR THE TOURNAMENT
The Tigers play all of their CCAC Tournament games at the Crown Point Sports Complex Thursday through Saturday.
--ONU—
*Contact: Sam Viebrock, Sports Information Director, stviebrock@olivet.edu
**excludes the 2020 season due to the COVID-19 Pandemic