Feb. 21, 2008

LEWISBURG, Pa. - With inclement weather in the forecast for Baltimore early this weekend, the Bucknell softball doubleheader at UMBC has been moved from Saturday afternoon to Sunday at 1 p.m. The Bison will enter the doubleheader with a 1-4 record, while the Retrievers are 1-3.

Bucknell Softball Notebook
Bucknell Recently (1-4, 0-0 PL)
Longwood Lancer Leadoff Classic:
- Feb. 15: L, 12-7 vs. Eastern Michigan
- Feb. 15: L, 3-2 at Longwood
- Feb. 16: L, 1-0 vs. Eastern Michigan
- Feb. 17: W, 4-1 vs. Pittsburgh
- Feb. 17: L, 3-1 vs. Morehead State

Bucknell Notes
- Bucknell opened its season last Friday on the earliest date in program history. The Feb. 15 starting date eclipsed the Feb. 17 opening day of the last two years by two days.

- Bucknell defeated Pittsburgh last weekend for its first win of the 2008 campaign. The Panthers had defeated No. 16 Virginia Tech and No. 25 Missouri earlier in the year.

- Freshman Sam Rollandi leads Bucknell in hitting through the first five games of the season with a .375 batting average. She has three hits in eight at bats, has two RBIs and one run scored.

- Four Bison started all five games at the Longwood Leadoff Classic last weekend: Ashley Beans, Ashley Carlson, Erin Curatola and Mary Pavlovich.

- Senior Christie Wiest went 1-2 with a 1.29 ERA at the Longwood Leadoff Classic. She hurled three complete games and yielded just 18 hits in 21.2 innings. The Centre Hall, Pa., native moved into fourth place on Bucknell's career games started list (68), seventh on the wins list (21) and has now accrued 400.1 innings pitched in her career to rank fifth in Bison history.

- All four of the teams Bucknell faced on its opening weekend of play were first-time opponents.

- Bucknell's team ERA of 3.82 is slightly better than last year's 3.88 figure.

Bucknell vs. UMBC History
- Bucknell and UMBC have met 10 times with the Retrievers holding a 7-3 edge in the series that began in 1991. The teams split two games last year in their first meetings since 1996.

About UMBC
- The doubleheader against Bucknell is not UMBC's only matchup that is impacted by the inclement weather. The Retrievers were scheduled to play a pair of games at Maryland on Thursday, but that twinbill has been pushed back to Feb. 27.

- UMBC opened its season Feb. 16-17 at the UNC Greensboro Spartan Classic and went 1-3. The Retrievers' lone win was a 4-3 victory against James Madison. However, each of UMBC's losses were relatively close as none was by more than three runs.

- UMBC will enter Sunday's doubleheader with a .170 team batting average and an ERA of 3.50. With five hits, including a pair of doubles, sophomore Emily Thompson is leading the Retrievers in batting with a .417 average. Thompson and Amanda Fefel have combined for nine of the team's 17 hits this season.

- The Retrievers have used three different starting pitchers in their first four games. Senior Ashley Gray has started two games, allowed just 11 hits in 12.0 innings of work and has a team-best ERA of 1.17, but she is 0-2.

Up Next
- Bucknell continues its season-opening stretch where it will play 22 games away from home next weekend when it travels to Columbia, S.C., for the Gamecock Invitational. The Bison will play Gardner-Webb and host South Carolina two times apiece at the two-day event that runs March 1-2. Bucknell has never faced either team.