Softball Hosts Highlander Classic This Weekend

Friday, March 15

Riverside, CA

1:30 pm

UC Riverside

Northern Illinois

Photo by: Gabriel L. Acosta

Softball Hosts Highlander Classic This Weekend

3/14/2013 10:28:00 AM | Softball

Riverside—The UC Riverside Softball Team continues its 11-game homestand this weekend hosting its third tournament of the 2013 season, the Highlander Classic, on March 15-17 at Amy S. Harrison Field. Participating teams are Notre Dame, Iona, Northern Illinois, and the Highlanders. Tournament Page.

The tournament schedule is as follows:

Friday	Saturday	Sunday
Northern Illinios vs Notre Dame at 9:00 am	Notre Dame vs Iona at 9:00 am	Iona vs UC Riverside at 9:00 am
Iona vs Notre Dame at 11:15 am	Northern Illinios vs Notre Dame at 11:30 am	Northern Illinois vs UC Riverside at 11:30 am
Northern Illinois vs UC Riverside at 1:30 pm	Iona vs Northern Illinois at 2:00 pm
Iona vs UC Riverside at 4:00 pm

The Highlanders are on a six-game winning streak with doubeheader victories over Buffalo, Southern Utah, and Bethune-Cookman.

Northern Illinois split a pair of games at Cal State Northridge on Tuesday, and lost to North Dakota State and at Loyola Marymount on Wednesday. The Highlanders dropped their only previous meeting with the Huskies, 7-6, back on March 14, 2010 (box score/recap).

Iona most recently lost a 9-3 contest to Southern Utah, with losses at San Diego and San Diego State the day before. The Gaels will face UC Riverside for the first time in the program's DI history on Friday.

Notre Dame swept a pair of games against New Mexico State but lost a one-run game to UC Davis at the ASU Diamond Devil Tournament this past weekend. The Fighting Irish defeated Cal State Fullerton on Wednesday and play Arizona on Thursday before making their way to Riverside on Friday.

Highlanders vs Highlander Classic Game Capsules
	UC Riverside	Northern Illinois	Notre Dame	Iona
2013 Record & Stats	13-13	7-15	15-6	4-12
	Roster	Roster	Roster	Roster
	Schedule	Schedule	Schedule	Schedule
Conference	Big West	MAC	Big East	MAAC
Current Streak	W 6	L 2	W 2	L 6
Most Recent Box Score	W, 8-5 vs Bethune-Cookman	L, 3-0 at Loyola Marymount	W, 3-0 at Cal State Fullerton	L, 9-3 vs Southern Utah
Next Opponent	3/23 at Pacific	3/27 vs Loyola	3/23 at Seton Hall	3/20 vs Temple
Top Hitter	Alexis Pickett Senior .333 BA	Jennifer Barnett Senior .313 BA	Emilee Koerner Sophomore .478 BA	Brianna Schauer Sophomore .289 BA
Top Pitcher	Alyssa Razo Sophomore 3.55 ERA 7-6 Record	Jessica Sturm Sophomore 3.23 ERA 3-6 Record	Brittany O'Donnell Senior 1.78 ERA 6-2 Record	Jordan Courage Freshman 3.98 ERA 1-2 Record
DI Record vs.		0-1	0-2	0-0
DI Current Streak vs.		L 1	L 2	First Meeting

Projected Highlanders Lineup
(By Position)
Pos	#	Name	Yr	B/T	Avg	OBP	SLG	H	RBI
C	6	Alexis Pickett	Sr.	L/R	.333	.435	.412	17	11
1B	20	Natalie Sanchez	Fr.	R/R	.246	.371	.368	14	9
2B	3	Meagan Esteban	Fr.	L/R	.183	.269	.183	11	4
3B	16	Brittanie Akey	Fr.	R/R	.222	.254	.286	14	11
SS	11	Nicolette Lujan	Fr.	R/R	.222	.286	.244	10	3
RF	19	Dionne Anderson	Jr.	L/R	.319	.412	.444	23	11
CF	4	Kayla White	Sr.	R/R	.325	.358	.597	25	11
LF	7	Ariel Shore	Sr.	L/R	.278	.313	.329	22	5
DP	9	Ashley Ercolano	Fr.	R/R	.286	.351	.414	20	13

GAME NOTES
STOP, THIEF!
UCR stole nine bases against Southern Utah on March 11, setting the program's Division I record for most stolen bases in a single game. Dionne Anderson added her name to the UCR record books as she stole four bases that game—the most in a single game in the program's DI history.

GONE STREAKING
UC Riverside's six game winning streak is the longest streak in the program's Division I history. The previous high was five, set on multiple occasions most recently during the 2012 season.

SHUTOUT
The Highlanders recorded their first two shutouts of the season at the Wildcat Invitational on March 1-3—1-0 vs Portland State on March 1, and 2-0 vs Boston on March 2. Last year, UCR recorded five shutouts.

WALK THIS WAY
Ashley Ercolano hit a three-run walk-off home run for UCR in its win against Weber State on February 23. The last Highlanders player to record a walk-off is Kaylie Atkinson, who drilled a shot against Idaho State on Feb. 25, 2012.

OFF TO THE RACES
The Highlanders won their 2013 season opener against Southern Miss on February 8—the first season-opening victory since 2007.

FEELING A LITTLE RANK
UCR faced off against three ranked opponents in consecutive games at the Campbell/Cartier Classic on February 15-17—the most ranked opponents the team has faced in a row since a three-game series against #21 Cal Poly on May 8-9, 2009.

ERROR MESSAGE
UC Riverside committed five errors in its loss against Fresno State on Feb. 8, the most since April 16, 2011 when the Highlanders recorded six errors.

BREAKING RECORDS
UCR finished the 2012 season with a 25-28 overall record, setting a new program Division I mark for most wins in a season and for best winning percentage.

Best Winning Pct. (DI)
.472	2012
.449	2006
.407	2010

Most Wins (DI)
25 x	2012
22	2006
22	2010

BRINGING OUT THE BROOMS
The Highlanders sweep of Cal State Northridge on May 5-6, 2012 was the first such sweep over the Matadors in the team's Division I history. The sweep was also the first for UCR in conference play since taking a three-game series from Sacramento State on May 4-5, 2002.

SHOWING NO MERCY
UCR won six games last year by the eight-run mercy-rule—the most times in the program's DI history. This season, they’ve already won three games by the mercy rule, but have been mercy ruled six times by opponents.

BATTER UP
UCR finished the 2012 season with a team batting average of .281— the highest single-season average in the team's Division I history, besting the 2011 squad with a .276 batting average.

CATCH ME IF YOU CAN
The Highlanders stole 73 bases in 2012, 10 more than the program's previous DI record of 63 set in 2011. UCR already has 51 stolen bases in 2013, and rank 28th in the nation in stolen bases per game, with Ariel Shore ranking 57th individually in that category (national rankings thru games played 3/10).

WHAT A DIFFERENCE A YEAR MAKES
The Highlanders won 13 games in 2011, but nearly doubled that win total in 2012 with 25 victories. This season, UC Riverside has won 13 games.

OFF THE CHARTS
UC Riverside's 16 runs against Eastern Kentucky on March 7, 2012 are the most in the Division I history of the program for a single-game total. The previous high was 15, set at Utah State on May 3, 2003.

CONFERENCE DIVAS
The Highlanders led the Big West Conference last season in triples, stolen bases, and steal attempts while ranking second in batting average, slugging percentage, on base percentage, and RBI. On the national scale, UC Riverside ranked 12th in double plays per game and 44th in both triples per game and stolen bases per game.

COACHING CHANGES
UC Riverside welcomes an entirely new coaching staff to the dugout in 2013. Head Coach Linda Garza was hired in June to lead the program, and named Jodie Cox and Chez Sievers as assistant coaches and Morgan Stuart as a volunteer coach.

ALL-BIG WEST
Four UC Riverside players were selected to the Big West All-Conference Team last season, with outfielder Kayla White garnering All-Big West First-Team awards while Alexis Pickett was selected to the Second Team, and Ariel Shore and Kaylie Atkinson both received Honorable Mention accolades.