RIVERSIDE, Calif.— This weekend, the UC Riverside Softball Team (29-20, 6-9) will play host to UC Santa Barbara (18-30, 5-10) in the Highlanders' final home series fo the season. The two teams will compete in a doubleheader this Saturday starting at 1:00 PM and a single game on Sunday at 1:00 PM at Amy S. Harrison Field. Following Sunday's matchup, UCR will honor the team's graduating seniors Chelsey Holley, Jenae Lockwood, Tayler Misfeldt, and Jenna Curtan.

HIGHLANDERS VS GAUCHOS
UCSB owns the all time Division I record against UCR (10-38), but the Highlanders have won four of the last six matchups with the Gauchos.

SCOUTING THE GAUCHOS
UCSB comes into the weekend series with a 5-10 Big West record after dropping six of its last seven games. The Gauchos have only collected five wins on the road this year playing most of their games at home or at neutral sites. The team is lead offensively by Junior Sierre Altmeyer, who tops UCSB with a 25 RBI and 6HR's and ranks 3rd with a .322 batting average. On the defensive end, Felisha Noriega (6-6) is a likely pitcher to see in game one as she leads the team with 14 starts. The sophomore comes into the weekend series with a 4.90 ERA.

LAST TIME
The Highlanders are coming off a doubleheader sweep over Hawai'i as UCR shutout the Rainbow Wahine 1-0 in the first game and run-ruled them 10-2 in the second game (5-innings) thanks to a walk-off triple from freshman Seanna Garewal that sealed UC Riverside's first series win over Hawai'i.

PUTTING THE "C" IN COACH
Head Coach Nikki Palmer earned her 100th career win on April 21st, 2018 in UCR's 3-2 win over UC Davis. She is currently at 102 and has collected 63 wins as a Highlander.

NO-NO
On Saturday April 14th, pitcher Hailey Dolcini notched her first career no-hitter against CSUN in a game where the score was tied until the bottom of the 6th inning. The freshman struck out two batters and only put four runners aboard on balls in her 11th win. After walking the lead off batter in the 4th inning, Dolcini retired the final 12 batters to close out the game. This was the first no-hitter of the season for the Highlanders and their 12th shutout.

BIG WEST BEWARE
UCR's .275 team batting average and 2.67 ERA rank 3rd in the Big West Conference with just two more weekends of competition remaining. The Highlanders also rank 1st in triples (12), 3rd in OPB (.361) and opponent batters average (.232), as well as 4th in runs (196) and RBI (177).

On the individual side, senior outfielder Jenna Curtan is atop the Big West with her 5th ranked batting average (.407) and is 2nd in OBP (.484) and 3rd in hits (59). Sophomore Sarah Parten ranks 2nd in the conference in walks (35) and is 4th in OBP (.471).

Defensively, freshman Hailey Dolcini (1.76) and senior Tayler Misfeldt (2.32) rank 3rd and 8th, respectively, in ERA. Misfeldt's 15 wins this season are good for 3rd and her 130 K's rank 4th, while Dolcini's 13 wins are tied for 4th.

THIS IS R' HOUSE
So far this season, UC Riverside is 20-10 at home after going 2-1 in the Hawai'i series this past weekend. Since Head Coach Nikki Palmer took the helm in 2017, the Highlanders are a combined 44-21 when playing at Amy S. Harrison Field.

RECORD BREAKERS
So far this year the Highlanders have broke several all-time UCR records:

Pitcher Tayler Misfeldt — All-Time Wins Leader - 52
Pitcher Tayler Misfeldt — All-Time Strikeouts Leader - 372
Outfielder Jenna Curtan — All-Time Hits Leader - 227
Outfielder Jenna Curtan — All-Time Runs Leader - 137
Outfielder Jenna Curtan — Tied for All-Time Doubles Leader - 36

BIG WEST ATHLETE OF THE WEEK
Earlier this season, the Highlanders had the Big West Athlete of the Week Honors locked down winning the award four consecutive weeks.

February 27th — Sarah Parten - Field Player of the Week
March 6th — Jenna Curtan - Field Player of the Week
March 13th — Hailey Dolcini - Pitcher of the Week
March 20th —  Hailey Dolcini - Pitcher of the Week

DON'T STOP BELIEVING
UCR has performed exceptionally well even when trailing as the team has registered nine wins in games where its opponent got on the scoreboard first. This includes four wins when the Highlanders trailed after the 5th inning and three wins despite trailing after the 6th.

CURTAN'S UP
Senior Jenna Curtan has been a strong offensive leader so far in her final season for the Highlanders. Over the team's 49 games this year she ranks 1st on the team in batting average (.383), slugging (.506), OPB (.484), hits (59), doubles (13), runs (39), and total bases (78). Curtan has also displayed some heroics, gathering late inning hits and runs in the wins over George Washington and St. John's.

Curtan was awarded Big West Field Player of the Week on March 5th 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 broke the all-time UCR record. Curtan is also the all-time leader in runs with 133, is tied for the all time doubles record with 36, and is tied for 2nd in triples with nine.

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

Left fielder Garewal ranks 4th on the team in batting average (.305), 3rd in OBP(.428) and slugging (.466), and 2nd in runs scored (22) (minimum 50 AB). She also smacked her first career HR on February 18th against Stanford.

Pitcher Hailey Dolcini (13-8) leads the team with a 1.76 ERA. Opponents have struggled against the freshman batting only .187 and striking out 102 times in her 29 appearances. She is first on the Highlanders with just 35 earned runs (minimum 50 IP).

SHUTOUT CITY
13 of the team's wins this season have come by way of shutout. In those 13 games, the Highlanders have won a pair of 10-0 games, an 11-0 game, and have scored a combined 63 runs.

HOT STARTS
The Highlanders have faired well when they get on the score board early as they are 20-3 when scoring first and are 10-2 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 44.3% of the time.

FRESHMAN PHENOM
Freshman pitcher Hailey Dolcini (13-8) repeated as Big West Pitcher of the Week on March 19th after a dominant performance in the Highlander Invitational. This was the fourth straight week that a Highlander has received a conference honor.

During the tournament the freshman made four appearances, two of which were starts, and scattered eight hits while walking just three and striking out 11. She threw a complete game four-hit shutout against Harvard to start the UCR Tournament walking just one batter and striking out four.

The rookie pitcher had a 46 inning scoreless streak, which is the longest streak on the team this season.

TAYLER ON TOP
Senior Pitcher Tayler Misfeldt (15-10) 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 51. So far this season she has shutout four teams and struck-out 130 batters to earn a 2.32 ERA.

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

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 on February 26th 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. 23 Cal.