JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The North Florida softball team is back in action this weekend, Feb. 19-20, in Troy, Ala. for the Quality Inn Classic hosted by Troy University at the Troy Softball Complex. The Ospreys will face Samford, Central Arkansas, Bradley and host Troy.
The Ospreys enter the game with a 1-5 record, most recently defeating 2010 NCAA Tournament participant UCF, 2-0, on the road in Orlando, Fla. Freshman hurler Cortney Radke was impressive in the win as she sat down 16 of the 21 outs on strikes, tying the school record for strikeouts in a game.
Of North Florida's five losses, four came at the hands of nationally-ranked teams at the season opening Combat Classic hosted by Florida International. Those four teams – Ohio State, Florida International, Kentucky, DePaul – also competed in the NCAA Tournament last season.
The Ospreys will start the tournament off against Samford on Saturday at 9:30 a.m. (CT) and follow up with a game against Central Arkansas at noon (CT). North Florida leads the all-time series over Samford, 1-0, with the team's lone meeting on Feb. 16, 2008 in Samford, Ala. The meeting between Central Arkansas and the Ospreys is the first in program history.
On Sunday, North Florida returns to action against Bradley at 10 a.m. (CT) before meeting host Troy on the field at 12:30 p.m. (CT) for the last game of the tournament. The Bradley all-time series is currently knotted at 1-1 with the two team's last meeting in 2006. Bradley took the last game, 3-1, on March 10, 2006 while North Florida claimed the first meeting, 6-5, on March 3, 2006. Troy holds a 5-1 advantage in the series between the two schools, winning the last five meetings. The Ospreys lone victory over Troy was on Feb. 11, 2006 by a score of 4-3.
Live stats of the tournament will be provided on TroyTrojans.com, rotating through each contest of the tournament. Also, live video will be shown (no audio provided) of each game with the exception of the last three games on Saturday due to time constraints and other athletic events.
