Softball Looks To Winning Streak Alive This Weekend In The Highlander Classic

Riverside, CA—The UC Riverside Softball Team hosts the Highlanders Classic this weekend, featuring Santa Clara and Utah State on March 5-6 at Amy S. Harrison Field.

The schedule is as follows:

Saturday

Utah State vs UC Riverside 9 am PT

Santa Clara vs UC Riverside 11:30 am PT

Utah State vs Santa Clara 2 pm PT

Sunday

Santa Clara vs Utah State 9 am PT

Utah State vs UC Riverside 11:30 am PT

Santa Clara vs UC Riverside 2 pm PT

*Game times may be changed due to weather

Gates open one hour prior to the first game of the day, and fans can park in Lot 24 on Saturday ONLY. Sunday Lot 24 will be CLOSED, Lot 19 will open for Softball parking. Campus Map

Live stats for all six games may be found here.

The Highlanders are coming off of a 5-0 performance last weekend at the Amy S. Harrison. They won twice against both North Dakota (7-5, 4-2) and San Diego (7-6, 8-7) and 11-1 over Saint Peter's in their only meeting in the tournament.

UCR's .979 fielding percentage ranks 16th in the nation and their 2.00 stolen bases per game is 26th.

Maddie Richard's .500 batting average ranks 32nd in the nation and is second the Big West conference. Her .576 on-base percentage places 40th, and her 16 stolen bases in 17 attempts ranks 10th. Tayler Misfeldt's eigh victories in 2016 are tied for 5th in the country.

Haley Harris' 10 sacrifice hits in 16 games lead the nation, averaging .56 per game. Freshman Hannah Rodriguez remains tied for the lead nationally as the toughest to strikeout with none through 48 at bats this season.

Highlander Classic Game Capsules
	UC Riverside	Santa Clara Sat. March 5 @ 11:30 am Sun. March 6 @ 11:30 am	Utah State Sat. March 5 @ 9 am Sun. March 6 @ 2 pm
2016 Record & Stats	12-6	4-10	5-6
	Roster	Roster	Roster
	Schedule	Schedule	Schedule
Conference	Big West	West Coast	WCC
Current Streak	W 5	L 1	L 1
Most Recent Box Score	W, 8-7	L, 10-1	L, 9-2
Next Opponent	Mar. 8 vs Toledo	Mar. 11 vs Wisconsin	Mar. 11 vs DePaul
Top Hitter	Maddie Richard Junior .500 avg.	# 22 Cassandra Padilla Senior .333 avg.	# 13 Sarah Chow Senior .412 avg.
Top Pitcher	Taylor Misfledt Sophomore 5.04 ERA 8-3 Record	# 42 Micaela Vierra Sophomore 2.59 ERA 3-6 Record	#55 April Brown Junior 2.83 ERA 3-1 Record
DI Record vs.		7-1 View Results	12-9 View Results
DI Current Streak vs.		W 7	W 4

GAME NOTES
AND THEY'RE OFF
Last year's at 39-17 overall the Highlanders recoded the best season in the program's Division I-era, topping the previous single-season win record of 25 set by the 2012 squad.

MOVIN' ON UP
Prior to the 2015 season, the 2014 Highlanders squad had seen the best record and winning percentage in the program's Division I history. At the end of the season the blue and gold finished 179th in the NCAA RPI rankings.

Last year, the Highlanders climbed the ladder to 63rd. They were one of four Big West schools to break the top-65 which includes No. 44 CSUN, No. 54 Long Beach State and No. 55 Cal State Fullerton.

GOING, GOING GONE
In the Highlanders' 10-2 win against San Diego on the final day of the Amy S. Harrison Classic in 2015, catcher Natalie Sanchez blasted back-to-back home runs, both sailing over the fence in left-center.

Sanchez is the first Highlander to hit two home runs in a single game since Kaylie Atkinson smashed two at Cal State Fullerton on April 22, 2012.

Freshman Rebecca Faulkner matched Sanchez's home run performance blasting two in the Highlander's 7-6 loss to CSUN after nine innings of competition, April 19, 2015.

EXTRA FRAMES
While competing in the Fresno State Kick-Off Feb. 13-15, the Highlanders were victorious, 7-6, in a four-hour, 13-inning battle against Sacramento State. That is a tie for the second-most innings pitched in a single game during the program's Division I-era. In 2010 UC Riverside topped Pacific 4-3 in the second game of the day's double-header.

The Highlanders matched last February's marathon with another 13-inning fight, this time with the UC Davis Aggies. After over three and a half hours that included a small rain delay, the blue and gold left the field victorious in a 1-0 shutout of the Aggies on April 25., 2015.

The most innings pitched by a Highlander team was in 2002, when UC Riverside went back-and-forth with Cal Poly in a 14 inning dual that ended with the blue and gold on top, 1-0.

SAVED!
Just 20 games into the season freshman Rebecca Faulkner recorded her fourth save in a 2-1 victory over UT-Arlington, breaking the previous single-season record in the program's Division I history held by Taylor Alvarez with two.

In the final game of a series against Cal State Fullerton, the Redwood City native took over the all-time career saves record, notching her fifth the Highlander's, 8-1 victory.

Faulkner's 8 saves led the nation in 2015.
This season, Kaylynn Pierce has 2 saves through 18 games.

Single-Season Saves Since 2002
Saves	Player	Season
8	Rebecca Faulkner	2015
3	Tayler Misfeldt	2015
2	Kaylynn Pierce	2016
2	Taylor Alvarez	2013
2	Christin Songer	2005
2	Marissa Alvidrez	2008

All-Time Career Saves
Saves	Player
8	Rebecca Faulkner	2015
4	Ashley Henderson	1991-92
3	Tayler Misfeldt	2015
3	Alicia Zinner	1991-92
3	Laura Fay	1987-90

CONNECTIONS
The Highlanders maintained a team batting average of .284 last season, breaking the program's Division I-era record of .281 set by the 2012 squad.

This year they are hitting .311 as a team.

CATCH ME IF YOU CAN
The Highlanders stole 90 bases during the 2013 season, setting the program Division I record in the process. UCR ended that season ranked 28th in the nation in stolen bases per game, with graduated senior Ariel Shore ranking 58th individually in that category, and Dionne Anderson ranking 77th.

In 2014, Anderson set the program's Division I mark for most stolen bases in a single-season when she stole her 27th base in just the 27th game of the year on March 12 against Fairleigh Dickinson. She also topped Shore as the program's Division I leader in career stolen bases, and finishing her career with 86. The all-time program record for career stolen bases is 107, set by Deanna Dresman from 1988-91. The Highlanders recorded 77 stolen bases in 51 games, with Anderson's 47 leading the team. Anderson also ranked second in the nation in that category, while the team was 35th.

Anderson also broke the Big West Conference single-season record for stolen bases, and is second on the all-time league charts for career stolen bases. Last season the Highlanders were 41-for-53 in stolen base attempts.

Through 18 games this season, the Highlanders are 26th in nation with 2.00 stolen bases per game, 36 on the year.

BREAKING RECORDS
UCR finished the 2012 season with a 25-28 overall record, setting a program Division I mark for most wins in a season and for best winning percentage. The Highlanders notched 23 wins in 2014, giving them the second-most wins in the program's Division I era. The 2015 squad smashed the previous wins record with 39.

Best Winning Pct. (DI)
.696	2015
.472	2012
.449	2006
.426	2014

Most Wins (DI)
39	2015
25	2012
23	2014
22	2006
22	2010

JUST KEEP SWINGING, JUST KEEP SWINGING
In 56 games last season, the Highlanders recorded 10 or more hits in 17 games, breaking the previous single-season record of most games with double-digit hits (13) previously held by the 2012 team.

Last season, the team had 429 total hits, passing the previous record (378) set by the 2012 team.

TAKEN
The Highlanders won their first Big West series of the 2014 season April 12-13 at Cal State Fullerton by taking two of three games.—the first series win since April 27-28, 2013 against Cal Poly.

Last season, the Highlanders kicked off conference play with a win over Hawai'i, 2-1. It was the first time the blue and gold won a Big West opener since 2010. They followed that up performance with their first series win of the 2015 season in week two over Long Beach State.

On Sunday, April 26, 2015, the Highlanders earned their first conference series sweep of the season against UC Davis. It was the first time the blue and gold swept a Big West member since the 2012 season, when took three straight from CSUN.