JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The University of North Florida softball team (15-14, 0-0 A-Sun) opens conference play this weekend with a pair of doubleheaders at the UNF Softball Complex. The Ospreys hosts Kennesaw State (14-10, 0-0 A-Sun) on Friday at 4 p.m. and Mercer (16-10, 0-2 A-Sun) on Saturday at 1 p.m.
Third-year head coach Marcie Hickey reached a milestone with the Ospreys win over UT-Chattanooga, 4-0, on March 20. The victory marked Hickey's 65th at the helm of the North Florida program, becoming tied for the second-most all-time wins as head coach in North Florida history.
The Ospreys enter the weekend looking to get back on to winning ways after having dropped four of its last seven games. During this stretch, North Florida has put up 24 runs despite getting shutout three times. Most recently, the squad dropped two games at home to Georgia Southern, getting blanked 5-0 in both games.
Of North Florida's 14 losses, seven came at the hands of either nationally-ranked teams or squads that competed in the NCAA Tournament last season.
Freshman Cortney Radke leads North Florida in the circle, pitching 147.2 innings this year and boasts an ERA of 1.71. Radke has tallied five shutouts on the year and has fanned 163 batters. At the plate, junior Alyson Bailey boasts a team-high batting average of .305. Bailey has legged out six doubles on the year, while driving in 13 RBI and scoring nine runs.
Kennesaw State comes into Jacksonville, struggling to win games recently as well, having lost five of its last six games. The Owls are led at the plate by Sharon Swanson who is hitting .359, belting six homeruns on the year with two doubles and 28 RBI. In the circle, Jessica Cross has worked a team-leading 62.1 innings to a record of 7-3 and holds an ERA of 2.13 entering the weekend.
In the all-time series, the Owls hold a considerable 32-10 advantage over the Ospreys with most of the meetings coming when the two programs were playing at the Division II level in the Peach Belt Conference. Since beginning play in the A-Sun in 2006, Kennesaw holds an 11-1 advantage with the lone North Florida victory, by a score of 3-1, coming on April 10, 2009 in Jacksonville.
Mercer began conference play last weekend by losing twice at Campbell and will continue its road stretch, facing Jacksonville on Friday before meeting North Florida on Saturday. The Bears are paced at the plate by Sara Stukes who is hitting an impressive .411, smacking five homeruns on the year to go along with one triple, seven doubles and 29 RBI. Kari Chambers has worked the most time in the circle, tallying 73.1 innings with a record of 7-5 and ERA of 1.62 entering weekend play.
North Florida has matched-up with Mercer just 10 times with the series currently knotted at 5-5. The Bears swept the doubleheader in 2010, while North Florida had claimed four of the six games prior to last year.
Fans can follow the games via live stats.
