March 29, 2007

Livestats: www.ohiobobcats.com
Ball State's website: www.ballstatesports.com
Miami's website:www.muredhawks.com

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ATHENS, Ohio - This weekend the Ohio softball team will play its first home games of the season and will begin conference play against Ball State and Miami.

The weekend starts with a doubleheader against Ball State on Friday, 1/3 p.m. and single games against Miami on Saturday, 2 p.m. and Sunday, 1 p.m.

So far the Bobcats have played all of their games away from home and have an 11-16 overall record, which includes five tournament appearances. The Bobcats previously scheduled home opener, March 7 against Dayton, was canceled due to weather conditions.

Last time out, the Bobcats split a doubleheader at Cleveland State. Ohio won game two, 1-0, but dropped game two to the Vikings, 5-4.

Freshman Shalene Petrich (Chehalis, Wash.) has started every game and leads the team with a .363 batting average. She shares a team-high 29 hits with senior Debbie Szalejko (Beavercreek, Ohio). Petrich also leads the team with 17 stolen bases, she's attempted to steal 20 times.

Petrich is on a five-game hitting streak that began with three hits against Stanford at the Stanford Invitational last weekend. Since, she's had two hits against UC Davis and Long Beach State, one hit in game one of the doubleheader at Cleveland State and two hits in game two against the Vikings.

Senior Kelly Rodriguez (Miami, Fla.) bats .355 on the season with 27 hits and a team-high 16 RBI. Szalejko has a .354 batting average while non-starters Meagan McCutcheon (Mogadore, Ohio) and Maureen McKelvey (Stow, Ohio) bat .316 and .314, respectively. McKelvey is on a three-game hitting streak dating back to March 25 when she had two hits against Long Beach State. She had one hit in both games at Cleveland State.

Freshman Candace Saucedo (Ontario, Calif.) leads the `Cats in the circle with a 2.12 ERA. Her 3-2 record includes 11 appearances and one complete game. She's also struck out 26 batters. Junior MIchelle Sauter (Chehalis, Wash.) has a 2.77 ERA and a 6-7 record. Sauter has struck out the most batters than any Bobcat pitcher with 50 strikeouts. She's also pitched a team-high 65.2 innings.

Scouting Ball State
Ball State defeated the Indiana Hoosiers 8-0 in six innings at the BSU Softball Complex. Abby Gross leads Ball State with a .392 batting average and 19 RBI. Allie Pennock is batting .253 on the year and has a team-high 18 steals. Elizabeth Milian and Amanda Pick will share a majority of the innings this week. Pick is 2-8 with eight complete games and 48 strikeouts. Milian has a team-high 49 strikeouts and an ERA of 2.44.

Scouting Miami
Miami heads into its conference opening weekend after posting a 1-4-1 mark over the past week, which includes Tuesday's 2-1 walkoff win over Eastern Kentucky. The RedHawks also posted an 0-4-1 mark it the inaugural Miami Softball Invitational (March 23-25). Miami senior Leslie Macedo continues to add to her career RBI record, as she now has 90 career RBIs and needs only 10 more to hit triple digits for her career. Freshman Meredith Linch picked up her first win since the Panera Bread Classic Tuesday against Eastern Kentucky when she tossed five innings of scoreless relief. Linch allowed only two hits in five innings, and, more importantly, issued only two free passes in one of her best outings of the season.

Hit Streaks
Four Bobcats are on hitting streaks with Shalene Petrich and Kelly Rodriguez sharing five-game streaks. Maureen McKelvey is on a three-game hitting streak and Amanda Sacks is on a two-game hitting streak.

Breakout Performance
Freshman Shalene Petrich has hit her way to the top of the Bobcat offense. She leads the team with a .363 batting average going into conference play. Petrich also leads the team with 17 stolen bases, which is in the top ten on Ohio's all-time single season list. She's scored more runs than any player with 14. Petrich was named MAC East Player of the Week on Feb. 13.