Erie, Pa.—The Mercyhurst Softball team has been thrown a curveball called mother nature and has had their schedule turned upside down. The Lakers will face IUP on Friday, despite playing at home on Friday against IUP they will not be the home team.
1. Schedule Changes
The Lakers were slated to be on the road both Friday and Saturday playing IUP and UPJ respectively. Due to weather in western Pennsylvania the Lakers will now host IUP on Friday the Mercyhurst Softball field the doubleheader was originally supposed to be played at IUP. On Saturday, the Lakers and UPJ are slated to matchup for the first time this season at UPJ, but due to weather UPJ has postponed the series. Mercyhurst was also supposed to play a non-conference doubleheader on Tuesday at Slippery Rock, however that twin bill has been postponed, a makeup date has not been announced yet.
2. The Matchups
Mercyhurst and the Crimson Hawks first played in 1984 with the Lakers sweeping IUP at home. IUP has controlled the last 23 games winning 18 of them dating back to 2011. In the last six games each team is 3-3, last season IUP won the season series 3-1 with the Lakers taking the first game of the series.
3. Fry Still Frying
Madison Fry is hitting .518 this season which is second in the nation and conference. She has tallied 43 hits this season which fourth in the conference but the Lakers have played the at least five games less then the players above her. She also has the third most putouts with 75 she has also added ten assists and has a perfect 1.000 fielding percentage. In her career to this point Fry has a .464 average while notching 117 hits. She has also scored 54 runs, last year she set a career high with 27, she is already at 20 runs scored this season.
4. In the Circle
The Lakers are posting a 2.07 ERA which is tied with Gannon for second in the PSAC. Morgan Hilty and Mikaela Schramski are the main starters for the Lakers, they have combined for 24 starts and have accumulated 147.1 innings of the 169 innings the Lakers have played this season. They are complete opposite hitters as Hilty has struckout just 28 while Schramski has struckout 71 which is fifth in the conference. Opposing hitters are hitting just .236 against the Laker staff. Kaitlin Hoffner has made six appearances out of the bullpen and has opponents hitting just .140 while having three saves.
5. Scouting IUP
The Crimson Hawks are 9-9 this season and 2-0 in conference play, their two PSAC West wins came against Clarion last weekend. As a team, IUP is hitting .317 this season while they have hit 14 homers. Their top five hitters are all hitting over .300 with two of them hitting over .400. The pitching staff has an ERA of 6.69 while opponents are hitting .312 against them. They have also given up 17 homers this season while having a fielding percentage of .966, they have made 18 errors.
