2018 Highlander Invitational Amy S. Harrison Field Riverside, CA - Mar. 16-18
Schedule
Friday, Mar. 16	Purdue	2:00 PM
Sunday, Mar. 18	Texas Tech	11:30 AM
Sunday, Mar. 18	Idaho State	2:00 PM

Riverside, Calif.— The UC Riverside Softball Team will host its final home tournament this weekend, the Highlander Invitational. The Highlanders will put their 6-game win streak up against Purdue, Texas Tech, and Idaho State.

FRESHMAN PHENOM
Freshman pitcher Hailey Dolcini (8-2) earned Big West Pitcher of the Week after a dominant performance in the UCR Classic this past weekend. This is third straight week that a Highlander has received a conference honor.

Dolcini picked up wins against Boise State, North Dakota State and Colgate to help the Highlanders post a 4-1 UCR Classic record and improve to 19-7 overall. She allowed just one unearned run in three consecutive complete games, yielding eight hits and striking out 18. The Highlander rookie has ow won five straight games in her last five appearances.

The freshman tossed two shutouts, including in the 6-0 win over Colgate in which she faced just 22 batters. Against Boise State, she threw a four-hit shutout in a 3-0 victory, and allowed just two hits while fanning eight in a 2-1 triumph over North Dakota State. Opposing batters managed just a .086 batting average against her as she commanded the circle. 

RECORD BREAKERS
So far this year the Highlanders have broke several all-time UCR records. Senior pitcher Tayler Misfeldt broke the all-time wins record with 41 last month and since then senior outfielder Jenna Curtan has broken the all-time hits record with 200 and the all-time runs record with 115.

UCR TOURNAMENT
UCR is coming off of an impressive outing in a day tournament where the Highlanders defeated Harvard 4-0 and Colgate 5-4 in walk-off fashion.

CURTAN'S UP
Senior outfielder Jenna Curtan was awarded Big West Field Player of the Week after an outstanding Highlander Classic. Over the 4-game weekend, Curtan truly stood out as she led the team in batting average (.889), slugging (1.222), OBP (.929), runs scored (7), hits (8), total bases (11), and doubles (3). The Highlander's center fielder went 8-for-9 in the tournament and only recorded one out in her 14 plate appearances. Her last hit of the weekend, an RBI single up the middle to add to UCR's dominant 11-0 win over Saint Mary's, was the senior's 200th career hit, which breaks the all-time UCR record. Curtan is also the all-time leader in runs with 128, is 4th on the all time list for doubles with 32, and is tied for 2nd in triples with nine.

She has been a strong offensive leader so far in her final season for the Highlanders. Over the team's 21 games this year she ranks 1st on the team in batting average (.500), OPB (.610), hits (32), doubles (9), runs (24), and total bases (44). Curtan has also displayed some heroics, gathering late inning hits and runs in the wins over George Washington and St. John's.

RAMELOT'S HOT
Two of UCR's wins have come by way of walk-off from sophomore Emma Ramelot. The shortstop was truly clutch against George Washington hitting a solo homerun to tie the game and then a walk-off double an inning later to cap off a huge comeback and win the game 9-8. Just three days later, Ramelot would step to the plate against St. John's and win the game with an infield single after her team trailed 1-0 going into the bottom of the 7th.

PARTEN THE INTERRUPTION
Sophomore first baseman Sarah Parten took home the Big West Field Player of the Week honors last week after a very impressive weekend at the Amy S. Harrison Classic, where she had a team best .615 batting average, .677 OBP, and an outstanding slugging percentage of .846. She registered two hits in all four games and was a key part of UCR's comeback win over George Washington, where the team trailed 6-0 in the 3rd inning. The sophomore also smacked a 3-run HR against No. 21 Cal.

TAYLER ON TOP
Senior Pitcher Tayler Misfeldt (10-2) broke the all-time UCR record for wins on February 18th, 2018 as she picked up her 41st W in a shutout vs. Stanford and since then has extended that record to 47. So far this season she has shutout three teams and struck-out 85 batters to earn a 1.90 ERA.

In the Highlander's last game, Misfeldt stepped to the plate for the first time in her career and went 2-for-3 with a triple and 2 RBIs.

THIS IS R' HOUSE
So far this season, UC Riverside is 15-3 at home after going 4-1 in the Highlander Classic and 2-0 in the UCR Tournament. Since Head Coach Nikki Palmer took the helm in 2017, the Highlanders are a combined 39-14 when playing at Amy S. Harrison Field. Palmer now has 94 wins as a Head Coach, 55 of which have come as a Highlander.

SHUTOUT CITY
Nine of the team's wins this season have come by way of shutout. In those nine games, the Highlanders have won a pair of 10-0 games, an 11-0 game, and have scored a combined 52 runs.

FRESHMEN ON FIRE
Freshman Seanna Garewal and Hailey Dolcini have already made a positive impact on the team in their first year of play.

Left fielder Garewal ranks 3rd on the team in batting average (.348), slugging (.536) and 2nd in runs scored (16), and OBP (.471). She also smacked her first career HR on February 18th against Stanford.

Pitcher Hailey Dolcini (8-2) leads the team with a 1.52 ERA after an outstanding performance at the UCR classic. Opponents have struggled against the freshman batting only .160 and striking out 57 times in her 13 appearances. She is first on the Highlanders with just 11 earned runs.

HOT STARTS
The Highlanders have faired well when they get on the score board early as they are a perfect 14-0 when scoring first and are 8-1 when the team scores in the 1st inning. This success has been in part because of UCR's ability to get lead-off batters aboard 46.1% of the time.