Moon Township, Pa. – RMU will compete in the Horizon League in 10 of its varsity sports beginning in 2020-21. As the Colonials make the transition, stay tuned to RMUColonials.com as it breaks down what to expect. The final program joining the Horizon League to be featured is softball.
THE BACKDROP
RMU officially
joined the Horizon League July 1, 2020, in 10 of its varsity sports. Sports that will compete in the Horizon League for the Colonials include men's and women's soccer, volleyball, cross country, indoor and outdoor track & field, men's and women's basketball, golf and softball. Men's Hockey competes in Atlantic Hockey, women's hockey in College Hockey America (CHA) and rowing in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC). Robert Morris football
joined the Big South as an associate member, while women's lacrosse
joined the Mid-American Conference as an affiliate.
AROUND THE DIAMOND
The Horizon League features 12 members, including Cleveland State, Detroit Mercy, Illinois-Chicago, Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis, Northern Kentucky, Oakland, Purdue University Fort Wayne, Robert Morris, Wisconsin-Green Bay, Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Wright State and Youngstown State. In addition to RMU competing in its first season in the Horizon League in 2020-21, the same holds true for Purdue University Fort Wayne, which announced its move to the conference August 6, 2019.
RECENT CHAMPIONS
Detroit Mercy claimed the 2019 Horizon League softball championship, taking a pair of games from two-time defending champion UIC on the final day of the tournament to claim the automatic berth to the NCAA Tournament. In the last five years, four different institutions have claimed a Horizon League Tournament title, as Oakland won in 2015, followed by Valparaiso in 2016. Of the 12 schools that compose the Horizon League, 11 sponsor softball. The only institution that doesn't is Milwaukee.
THE RECORD BOOK
UIC owns the most Horizon League championships in league history with nine, including five consecutive crowns from 1998 to 2002. Detroit Mercy won the first Horizon League championship in 1987 and has won the tournament five times, with its 2019 title the program's first since 1992. The Titans won the first three Horizon League championships and four of the first six while also finishing runner-up in 1991.
THE HORIZON LEAGUE TOURNAMENT
To qualify for the Horizon League Championships, an institution must finish in the top six of the conference standings. The top two seeds earn a bye to the quarterfinals, with the No. 3 seed facing off against the No. 6 seed and No. 4 squaring off with No. 5 in the first round. A double elimination format, the winner of the regular season claims the No. 1 seed and hosts the tournament, and all games can be seen live on ESPN+ and ESPN3. In 2019, UIC was the No. 1 seed after finishing with a 20-4 (.833) mark in league action, four games ahead of Detroit Mercy.
A FAMILIAR FOE
The all-time series between Youngstown State and RMU dates back to 1991, and the two programs have faced off or were scheduled to meet each year since 2002. The Penguins and Colonials were scheduled for a doubleheader March 31, 2020, before the spring season was canceled due to the global pandemic. RMU leads YSU in the all-time series, 29-24 (.547), with the two programs splitting a doubleheader at the North Athletic Complex in the last meeting in 2019. The Penguins earned a 3-2 victory in game one before the Colonials claimed the nightcap, 4-1.
A FAMILIAR FOE PART DEUX
RMU squared off with Cleveland State four times during the 2019 campaign and all-time against the Vikings owns a record of 16-25 (.390). The Colonials played CSU twice as part of the 2019 Liberty Softball Classic, earning a 6-4 win March 2, 2019, before dropping an 11-8 decision the next day. RMU and Cleveland State also played a doubleheader at the North Athletic Complex March 27, 2019, with the Colonials earning a 6-5 win in the first game before falling in game two, 8-5. In the win at the North Athletic Complex, former Colonial
Abrielle McCartney (2016-2019) gave the Colonials a walk-off win with a single in the bottom of the seventh that scored
Erika Bell, who ignited the rally with a one-out single.
FIRST TIME FOR EVERYTHING
The only opponent in the Horizon League that RMU has never faced in school history is Wright State. The Colonials have played Green Bay and Oakland only once each, with RMU posting a 3-2 victory over the Phoenix in 2008 while earning a 3-0 win over the Golden Grizzlies in 2015. The Colonials are 2-2 (.500) against defending champion UIC but haven't faced the Flames since 1997. RMU has also posted all-time records of 4-5 (.444) against Detroit Mercy, 2-0 against IUPUI, 2-1 (.667) vs. IPFW and 1-1 (.500) against Northern Kentucky. Against current members of the Horizon League, RMU enters the 2021 campaign with a mark of 58-58 (.500) against conference opposition in program history.
HOW ABOUT THAT
A total of 20 Colonials have posted a four-hit game for RMU in program history. The second to turn the trick was Kelly McLain, who was the second freshman in school history to record four hits in a game. McLain, a native of Morrisville, Pa., finished 4-for-4 as the cleanup hitter for Robert Morris with a double, triple and three RBI in a 7-4 victory @ Cleveland State (3/28/95). The win helped RMU gain a split against the Vikings. Joining McLain in Robert Morris annals with a four-hit contest against CSU was Sarah Capp (2009-12), who also went 4-for-4 at the dish in a 7-5 win over the Vikings at the North Athletic Complex (3/28/12). Capp doubled and homered in the triumph as part of a 2012 campaign in which she led the Colonials with a .366 batting average (64-for-175), seven doubles, seven home runs and 42 RBI.
RUN IT BACK
Led by head coach
Jexx Varner, who will enter his third season at the helm in 2021, the Colonials
welcome back a pair of seniors from 2020 in
Natalie Higgins and
Madison Riggle. The duo started each of RMU's 19 games last year before the season was canceled, with Higgins pacing the Colonials in batting average (.349), hits (22), doubles (6), home runs (3) and RBI (12). Riggle was tied with Higgins for the team lead in home runs and RBI and was hitting .308 (16-for-52) on the season.
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