THIS WEEK IN PEACOCK SOFTBALL Upper Iowa (23-11, 9-3) hits the road for a six-game, one week road trip as the Peacocks will travel to Mankato, Minn. on Wednesday for a meeting of titans in the NSIC this season when they take on conference-leading Minnesota State. UIU then heads on its longest roadtrip of the conference season when Upper iowa goes to North Dakota for a couple doubleheaders against the University of Mary on Saturday and Minot State on Sunday.
KEY NOTES TO CONSIDER 1 STARING DOWN HISTORY: Upper Iowa has recorded 23 wins this season, matching their total from a year ago when the Peacocks finished 23-30 overall. UIU is only five wins away from tying the school record of 28 wins in a season, accomplished back in 2013.
2 HOME RUN RACE: With her sixth home run of the season on Monday, senior
Jacqueline Flood tied her teammate and fellow senior
Erica Kirgan for the most career home runs in Upper Iowa history 26 long balls.
3 LEADOFF HEATING UP: Peacock junior shortstop
Riley Kruel hit .524 last week and led UIU with 11 hits. The Horicon, Wis. native had four straight multi-hit games to finish the week and raised her batting average nearly 50 points, going from .255 to .304.
4 PITCHER OF THE WEEK: The NSIC handed out its weekly softball awards Tuesday and
Jacqueline Flood earned Pitcher of the Week honors. Flood becomes the third Upper Iowa softball player to earn a conference award this season. The Mt. Vernon, Ill. product went 3-1 on the week with a 0.32 ERA, allowing just one run in 22 innings, while striking out 25 batters. Flood also led the Peacocks at the plate as she hit .563 (9-16) and slugged 1.188 with three home runs, seven runs scored, eight RBI, and had six walks compared to two strike outs for a .696 on-base percentage.
ABOUT THE OPPONENTS vs. MINNESOTA STATE: The Mavericks are 27-9 to start the season and lead the conference at 10-2 in NSIC play. MSU has been successful behind strong pitching from Coley Ries (15-4, 1.31 ERA) and Libby Bemis (10-5, 2.03 ERA) and good base running as Minnesota State leads the conference with 105 stolen bases.
vs. U-MARY: The Marauders are just 7-21 this year and 1-8 in conference play. UM has four players hitting over .300, but their pitching have just one pitcher with an ERA under 5.00.
vs. MINOT STATE: The Beavers are 12-16 overall, but only 1-9 in the NSIC. Alyssa Cornejo leads MiSU in the circle with a 6-4 record and 3.74 ERA.
