Three-Game Series With Ohio Awaits Akron Softball

Friday, April 13

Athens, OH

2 PM

University of Akron

Ohio University

Three-Game Series With Ohio Awaits Akron Softball

April 12 | Softball

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Akron at Ohio Game Notes: 4/13/18

Akron at Ohio
April 13-14
Athens, Ohio | Ohio Softball Field

April 13 vs. Ohio | 2 p.m.
April 13 vs. Ohio | 4 p.m.
April 14 vs. Ohio | Noon

Game Information
Live Stats: GoZips.com
Listen: GoZips.com

What's Ahead
A tall task awaits the Akron softball team as the Zips are set to travel to Athens, Ohio and take on the MAC East-leading Ohio Bobcats in a Mid-American Conference three-game series this weekend. The Zips and Bobcats are scheduled to play a doubleheader on Friday, April 13, starting at 2 p.m. The two teams will then meet for one final contest on Saturday, April 14, at noon.

Scouting The Bobcats
At the midway point of the Mid-American Conference season, the Ohio Bobcats have tallied a 10-1 record in league play and own the highest conference winning percentage and sit alone atop the MAC East standings. Overall, the Bobcats have compiled a 22-13 record with an 11-12 record in the non-conference portion of their schedule, including wins over Virginia (4-0), NC State (5-2), and Pittsburgh (6-1). Through their 11 MAC games, Ohio has completed three series sweeps against Central Michigan, Eastern Michigan, Kent State, and took two out of three from Northern Illinois.

The Ohio offense has posted a .277 team batting average through 35 contests including 265 hits, 43 doubles, 10 triples, 34 home runs and 178 runs scored in 2018. Four Bobcats have posted a batting average over .300 on the season including Mikayla Cooper (.365), Alex Day (.339), Michaela Dorsey (.329), and Katie Yun (.325). Cooper, had the ninth-best batting average heading into this week and has a line of .365/.678/.460 courtesy of 42 hits in 115 at-bats. Cooper has recorded a team-high 30 RBI, 78 total bases, 19 walks, and three triple. Day, the Bobcats second-leading run producers, owns 29 RBI, a team-high nine home runs, and has scored 29 runs. On the season combined, Dorsey and Yun have tallied a combined 64 hits, 13 doubles, two triples, 10 home runs, and 44 RBI.

Ohio's pitching staff has seen four different hurlers pick up a win in 2018 including the Bobcats ace, Danielle Stein. Stein who had big shoes to fill after All-MAC honoree Savannah Jo Dorsey graduated but has been brilliant in the circle. When toeing the rubber, Stein has recorded a 13-5 record, 2.26 ERA, tossed 11 complete games and four shutouts in 121 innings. In 23 games and 16 starts, Stein has given up 90 hits, 46 runs (39 earned), struck out 151 and walked just 31. The Bobcats No. 2 pitcher, Madi McCrady, owns a 5-5 record inside the circle, a 4.40 ERA, thrown three complete games, given up 68 hits, 47 runs (40 earned), and struck out 68 in 63.2 innings of work. Kendall Meeks who has earned a 2-1 record in 16 games and three starts has also picked up two saves.

Series History
Ohio and Akron have met 96 times on the diamond in the history of the two programs since the first meeting in 1981. In the all-time series, the Zips have had the advantage against the Bobcats and own a 69-27 record against the green and white. Akron and Ohio split the season series last year as each team came out with two wins.

2018 Zip Breakdown
Under the guidance of 12th-year head coach, Julie Jones, the Zips are amidst the 42nd season of competition in 2018 after ending the 2017 season in the Mid-American Conference tournament for the fourth straight year and a 27-30 overall record. In 2018, Akron returns seven letterwinners from a season ago and welcomes seven newcomers to the squad, including four transfers and three true freshmen.

Through 34 games, redshirt freshman Sydney Jascoe (Commerce, Mich.), redshirt junior Kimberly Rodriguez (Las Vegas, Nevada), senior Caitlin Gambone (Canton, Ohio), and senior Cassie Gillespie (Sylvania, Ohio) pace the Akron offense posting a combined .310 average (107-of-345) and 25 RBI. Jascoe is the Zips leader in the hits category going 34-for-100 for a team-high .340 average in 30 starts, while also posting the teams third-most RBI (7). In 34 starts at first base, Gillespie is hitting a career-best .329 with 25 hits in 76 at-bats which includes an eight-game hit streak and four multi-hit performances. Gillespie also leads the squad defensively with a .989 fielding percentage, 169 putouts, and five assists. Rodriguez is averaging .295 from the dish and owns a team-high.450 on-base percentage while the speedster has scored a team-high 14 runs, totaled 42 bases, hit four home runs, and is 13-for-16 in stolen base attempts. Gambone, a staple at third base for the Zips, has posted a .275 average (25-for-91), has score eight runs, hit three doubles, a home run and three RBI.

Inside the circle, freshmen Mikayla Newland (Chillicothe, Ohio), Kayla Kmett (San Clemente, Calif.), senior Kooper Vertz (Dilsboro, Ind.), and freshman Shaye DeLeonardis have tossed a combined 202.0 innings, own a 7.14 earned run average and have recorded 105 strikeouts. Kmett owns a 1-14 record for Akron on the rubber and has compiled a staff-low 5.79 ERA, thrown three complete games, given up 120 hits, 98 runs (70 earned) and struck out 40 batters. Vertz, the lone senior on the staff stands 0-9 in 22 games and 10 starts. In 57.1 innings of work, Vertz has tallied an 8.67 ERA on 98 hits, 82 runs (71 earned) and struck out 35. Since joining the team, DeLeonardis has pitched 11.0 innings, given up 28 hits, and 25 runs.

Jones named Gillespie and Lakins team captains for the 2018 season.

Zips Tidbits

Cassie Gillespie is currently riding a team-best eight-game hit streak which has included four multi-hit contests. Maddy Clowdus (2/24-3/11) and Caitlin Gambone (2/17-2/24) recorded six game hit streaks earlier this season.
Rodriguez reached base safely in a team-high nine straight games and Jascoe reached safely in eight straight, a season-high for the Zips shortstop.
Sydney Jascoe leads the Zips with nine multi-hit performances while Jasoce, Gambone, Holzman, and Rodriguez have all posted a three-hit contest.
Jessie Holzman tallied a season-high three RBI in a contest and Cassie Gillespie, Laura Lakins, Kayla Wulf, Rodriguez has each garnered a two-RBI performance.
Sydney Jascoe is hitting a team-high .351 with the bases empty as the Akron lead-off hitter and .308 with runners on the base path, while Cassie Gillespie is hitting .471 with runners in scoring position.
With two outs, Caitlin Gambone has recorded a .414 average (12-for-29).
Shaye DeLeonardis, Kooper Vertz, and Kayla Kmett are fly ball pitchers forcing 10.82, 8.79 and 9.67 fly ball outs per contests, while Mikayla Newland utilizes the ground ball out recording 9.4 per ballgame.
Kimberly Rodriguez hit a home run in back-to-back days against Toledo (3/24-25) for her second and third of the season.
Shaye DeLeonardis made her Akron debut against Toledo (3/24).
Kayla Kmett set a new career-high in strikeouts per game (6) against Toledo (3/24).
Rodriguez went a perfect 3-for-3 against Toledo (3/25) with a home run. The first three-hit game of her career.
In the three-game series against the Rockets, Rodriguez played second base, center field, right field, and as the designated player and recorded 11 putouts and three assists (.933 fld%).
Kooper Vertz tallied a career-best 6 K's against Ball State (3/30).
Against Ball State on 3/30, Caitlin Gambone went 3-for-3 and Sydney Jascoe went 3-for-4 combining to register 2/3 of Akron's total hits (9) in the contest.
Akron earned its first MAC win against Western Michigan on April 8 by a score of 5-4.
Kooper Vertz strikes out a team-best 4.3 batters per game.
Kayla Kmett earned her first collegiate win in an Akron uniform against Western Michigan (4/8).

Where They Rank (as of 4/10)

Sydney Jascoe's .333 batting average ranks 32nd in the league and Cassie Gillespie's .319 ranks 40th.
Jascoe is tied for seventh-most doubles in the conference with nine.
Rodriguez is tied for ninth in league play for hit by pitches (4) and ninth in walks (16).
Caitlin Gambone is sixth in the league in SAC bunts (7), while Laura Lakins and Gillespie are tied for seventh (6).
Defensively, Cassie Gillespie ranks eighth in the league in chances (173), sixth in putouts (166), while Caitlin Gambone ranks T-12th in assists (56).
Rodriguez ranks t-2nd in the conference in stolen bases with 13 while Gillespie fifth in the MAC with nine.
Kayla Kmett ranks tied for 12th in the MAC in strikeouts looking (15) and innings pitched (77.2).

Up Next
Akron is back in action at Lee R. Jackson Field in a non-conference tilt with visiting Youngstown State on Tuesday, April 17. The Zips and Penguins are slated for a doubleheader starting at 3 p.m.