GAMES 19-21
Detroit Mercy (1-14 / 0-0 #HLSB) vs. RMU (8-10 / 0-0 #HLSB)
Thursday, March 16, 2023 (DH) • 2:00 p.m.­
Friday, March 17, 2023 • Noon
North Athletic Complex • Moon Township, Pa.
 
Cracker Jack & Sunflower Seeds (Dubble Bubble, Too)
 
- The RMU softball team opens the home portion of its 2023 schedule as well as Horizon League play by welcoming Detroit Mercy to the North Athletic Complex for a three-game series. The Colonials and Titans will play a doubleheader Thursday, March 16, at 2:00 p.m. before concluding the series with a single game Friday, March 17, at Noon. Weather pending, of course.
 
- RMU wrapped up its non-conference tournament slate by posting a 3-1 (.750) record at the Tennessee Tech Tournament last weekend. The Colonials split a pair of games with Ohio, including a 4-3 win, while earning a pair of 12-3 victories, both in five innings, over the host Golden Eagles.
 
- Redshirt sophomore Meadow Sacadura hit .455 (5-for-11) with three runs, a double and five RBI in the Tennessee Tech Tournament. Her RBI single in the top of the seventh helped the Colonials earn a 4-3 win over Ohio after the Bobcats had tied the contest, 3-3, in the bottom of the sixth.
 
- For her efforts in the Tennessee Tech Tournament, redshirt sophomore Meadow Sacadura was named the Horizon League Player of the Week (3/14). It marks the first weekly honor of her career. During the 2023 season, Sacadura owns a perfect 1.000 fielding percentage with 66 putouts and eight assists in 74 chances.
 
- Sophomore Madison DeVault paced the Colonials from the circle at the Tennessee Tech Tournament, finishing 2-0 in two appearances, including a start. She struck out seven in 6.2 innings and held opponents to a .222 batting average.
 
- RMU returns five starters from a 2022 squad that finished with an overall record of 31-21 (.596), including a 16-9 (.640) ledger in the Horizon League. The Colonials advanced to the championship game of the 2022 #HLSB Tournament in posting its first 30-win season since 2013.
 
- The Colonials are led by head coach Jexx Varner, who is in his fifth season at the helm of the program. He has posted a record of 86-98 (.467) but since joining the Horizon League RMU has notched an overall record of 64-50 (.561), including a mark of 36-23 (.610) in league play.
 
- In a poll of Horizon League head coaches, the Colonials were picked to finish second in the league in 2023. Oakland was tabbed as the favorite and received eight first-place votes in accruing 77 points, while RMU earned a first-place tally and compiled 68 points.
 
- RMU returns five starters from 2022, including its entire infield in Avery Winchell (1B), Anna Resnik (2B), Charlotte Grover (SS) and Alaina Koutsogiani (3B) and catcher Meadow Sacadura. Koutsogiani and Grover started all 52 games last year, while Resnik started 51 of RMU's 52 contests.
 
- The Colonials take to the road for a five-game road swing after hosting Detroit Mercy at the North Athletic Complex. RMU will take on Akron in a non-conference doubleheader Tuesday, March 21, before traveling to Green Bay, Wisc., for a three-game set with the Phoenix Friday, March 24, and Saturday, March 25. Weather pending, remember.

DETROIT MERCY LINKS
- Live Stats
- RMU Athletics Gameday App
 
The All-Time Series (Detroit Mercy) – The Colonials own a 9-7 (.563) advantage in the all-time series with the Titans entering this weekend's series at the North Athletic Complex. As Horizon League foes, RMU has won five of the seven meetings between the two programs, including four straight. Last season in Detroit, Mich., the Colonials swept the three-game series as sophomore Jess Matheny hit .545 (6-for-11) with three runs, a pair of doubles, a home run and a team-high five RBI. She produced three-hit games in both ends of a doubleheader last season on St. Patrick's Day, finishing 3-for-4, including her first career round-tripper in the opener as part of a three RBI performance.
 
Zero Res – Sophomore Anna Resnik broke out for the Colonials at the Tennessee Tech Tournament, producing a .417/.563/.667 slash line in four games while scoring five runs and driving in five more. In the tourney finale against the Golden Eagles, a 12-3 victory, Resnik finished 2-for-3 with three runs and a pair of RBI. Her RBI triple as the second hitter in the top of the fifth ignited a 10-run rally that helped the Colonials take control. Resnik also finished 3-for-3 in stolen bases at the Tennessee Tech Tournament, her first swipes of the 2023 campaign.

In The Clutch – Redshirt sophomore Meadow Sacadura is proving to own the ability to come up big for the Colonials when she's needed most. Through the first month of the 2023 season, Sacadura is hitting .476 (10-for-21) with runners in scoring position, a key reason seven of her team-high 11 RBI have come with two out. She's also a perfect 2-for-2 at the dish with the bases loaded. Where RMU has really excelled, however, is with a runner on third and less than two outs. The Colonials are hitting .545 (18-for-33) in those situations, including four hits apiece from sophomore Anna Resnik and senior Avery Winchell.
 
Start Me Up – Sophomore Alaina Koutsogiani scored a team-high six runs during the Tennessee Tech Tournament as the Colonials outscored their competition over the four games, 29-17. Koutsogiani was a force on the basepaths, going a perfect 7-for-7 in steals to improve to 12-for-12 on the 2023 campaign. That performance vaulted her to the top of the Horizon League leaderboard in the category while also pushing her career total to 50. Koutsogiani, who established the RMU single-season record for stolen bases (38) last year en route to being named to the 2022 All-Horizon League Freshman Team, also set a single-game mark by finishing 4-for-4 in the finale of the Tennessee Tech Tournament, a 12-3 win over the host Golden Eagles.
 
Local Flavor – Of the 20 student-athletes that make up the 2023 roster for RMU, half played their prep ball in the Western Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic League (WPIAL). That total includes transfer Courtney Poulich, who spent her freshman season at Liberty in 2022 but claimed both WPIAL and Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association (PIAA) Class AAA championships at Mount Pleasant in 2021. Poulich is one of six student-athletes that played in the WPIAL on RMU's 2023 roster that hail from Westmoreland County.
 
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