Flash Points:

• SFU Softball visits Stillwater this weekend for the Mizuno Classic, hosted by No. 23 Oklahoma State.
• The Red Flash is 9-6 this season after going 4-1 at the Pirate Invitational last weekend.
• SFU looks to continue a strong start in the circle, with Adrian Smith (Clairsville, Ohio/St. Clairsville) and Abby Trahan (Kaplan, La./Kaplan) combining for a 2.12 team ERA.
• Saint Francis Head Coach Jennifer Patrick-Swift is approaching her 200th win of the season.
• The Red Flash is set for two games each against Omaha and Maine and finishes the classic on Sunday vs. Oklahoma State.

Live Stats | Live Video (OSU Game)
 
LORETTO, Pa. – The Saint Francis Softball team will begin its Spring Break trip to Oklahoma this weekend at the Mizuno Classic, hosted by No. 23 Oklahoma State.
 
The Red Flash, led by Head Coach Jennifer Patrick-Swift, is 9-6 this season after a 4-1 weekend at the Pirate Invitational, hosted by East Carolina.  Saint Francis began the invitational with back-to-back shutout wins on Friday.  SFU earned a 1-0 win over Canisius and a 2-0 win East Carolina.  SFU split its Saturday matchups, beating Ball State, 4-1, but falling to Canisius, 1-0.  The invitational wrapped up on Sunday with a 7-2 win over East Carolina.
 
Oklahoma State, ranked 23rd in the Fastpitch News Poll, is also 9-6 after going 1-4 at the Mary Nutter Classic.  Omaha is 7-8 after a 2-3 weekend at the Texas A&M-Corpus Christi Tournament.  Maine started the season 3-2 last weekend at the UNC Wilmington Tournament.
 
SERIES HISTORY
Saint Francis is 1-5 all-time against Maine, with the last matchup coming on March 2, 2011 when SFU fell 3-1.  The Red Flash will meet Oklahoma State and Omaha for the first time in program history.
 
APPROACHING 200 WINS
With 196 wins, Head Coach Jennifer Patrick-Swift is approaching her 200th win at Saint Francis.  Since taking over the program in 2012, Patrick-Swift is 196-139, winning nearly 60 percent of the games she has coached at SFU.  She has already more than doubled the previous wins record at SFU, set by Rudy "Skip" Galayda, who had 93 wins from 1994-98. 
 
In Patrick-Swift's tenure, Saint Francis has increased its wins total each of the last six seasons, including last year's program and NEC-record 49 wins.  Last year, Patrick-Swift led the Red Flash to its first ever NEC Title, first ever NCAA Tournament appearance and first NCAA Tournament win.
 
MCKEE, TRAHAN COLLECT NEC WEEKLY HONORS
Junior Sierra McKee (DuBois, Pa./DuBois) was named NEC Player of the Week for the third time in her career, while sophomore Abby Trahan (Kaplan, La./Kaplan) earned her second NEC Pitcher of the Week award.
McKee batted .533 (8-15), with three doubles, two RBI, two runs and a stolen base. Her top performance of the weekend came in Sunday's win over East Carolina, when McKee went 3-for-4 with two doubles, two RBI and a run.  She lined an RBI double to left to tie the game and hit a go-ahead RBI single in the seventh. 

Trahan went 3-0 in four appearances with an 0.93 ERA.  She fired seven shutout innings in Friday's win over ECU. Trahan went seven innings, allowing just one run and striking out seven against Ball State and threw seven innings, giving up two runs, in SFU's second win over ECU.  In a relief appearance, Trahan threw 1.2 scoreless innings with two strikeouts.  Trahan retired 11 of the final 12 batters she faced against Ball State and the final 10 batters of the game in the first game vs. ECU.
 
STRONG IN THE CIRCLE
The Red Flash is off to a solid start in the circle this year.  Adrian Smith (Clairsville, Ohio/St. Clairsville) owns a team-best 1.46 ERA and a 3-2 record, including three complete games and two shutouts.  She has four outings in which she has gone at least five innings and allowed one or less run.

???????Trahan is 6-4 with a 2.45 ERA in 12 appearances, with eight complete games and two shutouts.  She ranks 30th in the nation, and first in the NEC, with 54 strikeouts, and 20th in the nation with six wins.  Trahan has four outings in which she has gone at least seven innings and allowed one or less run.  SFU has allowed just five runs (four earned) in its last 56 innings, dating back to its February 17 win over Georgia State.  SFU snapped a 30.1 inning streak without allowing an earned run against Ball State.
 
CHALLENGING NON-CON SLATE
SFU continues a challenging non-conference schedule this weekend.  The slate features games against No. 4 Oklahoma, No. 16 Auburn and No. 23 Oklahoma State. SFU will also play Arkansas, who is receiving votes in the USA Today/NFCA Coaches Poll.  As part of its non-conference schedule, SFU will play 16 games against Power 5 programs and 12 against teams who played in the 2017 NCAA Tournament.
 
SCOUTING THE COWBOYS
Oklahoma State, coached by Kenny Gajewski, is 9-6 this season, but is coming off a 1-4 weekend at the Mary Nutter Classic, which featured some of the top teams in the nation.  OSU opened the tournament with a 3-2 win over Wisconsin, but fell 4-2 against No. 16 Oregon State, 4-1 vs. No. 5 Oregon, 9-4 vs. Mississippi State and 3-1 vs. UC Davis.
 
The Cowgirls are batting .309 as a team and averaging 5.8 runs per game.  Senior Vanessa Shippy ranks 25th in the nation with a .513 batting average.  She has three homers, seven RBI and 20 runs and ranks sixth in the country in on-base percentage, with a .661 clip. Junior Madi Sue Montgomery is batting .333 with two homers and 16 RBI, while freshman Sydney Pennington has four homers and 18 RBI to go with a .321 average.
 
Oklahoma State has a team ERA of 3.19 and allows a .285 average to opposing hitters.  Senior Emmie Robertson has posted a 2.75 ERA in a team-high 40.2 innings.  Robertson has a 4-3 record in eight appearances (seven starts), with 31 strikeouts.  Junior Samantha Clakley owns a 3-3 record with a 3.97 ERA in 37 innings.  Sophomore Logan Simunek has not allowed an earned run in 14.1 innings over eight appearances.
 
SCOUTING THE MAVERICKS
Omaha, led by Head Coach DJ Sanchez, is 7-8 this season.  Omaha went 2-3 at the Texas A&M-Corpus Christi Tournament last weekend.  They opened the tournament with a 2-0 win over Texas A&M-CC and added a 9-8 win over Texas Southern, but suffered losses against Utah State (5-3), Texas A&M-CC (6-3) and Texas Southern (4-3).
 
The Mavericks have a team batting average of .225 and are averaging 3.3 runs per game.  Junior Natalie Mostek leads the team with a .359 average to go with three doubles, a homer, five RBI, six runs and three steals.  Freshman Sydney Hampton, senior Crystal Pablo and senior Kelly Pattison have each driven in six runs.
 
Omaha has a 4.02 team ERA and allows an opposing average of .285.  Hampton is 6-2 with a 1.98 ERA in 10 appearances (two starts).  She has 26 strikeouts in 46 innings.  Junior Laura Roecker has a 3.38 ERA in 18.2 innings over four appearances, while freshman Aubrey Hacke has a 6.33 ERA in seven appearances and 27.2 innings.
 
SCOUTING THE BLACKBEARS
Maine, coached by Mike Coutts, went 3-2 in its opening weekend at UNC Wilmington.  The Blackbears earned wins over Bucknell (11-1), UNC Wilmington (5-1) and Longwood (6-4), but fell against UNC Wilmington (3-1) and Bucknell (3-0).
 
The Blackbears are batting .231 as a team and averaging 4.6 runs per game.  Senior Rachel Carlson is hitting a team-best .500 with 10 hits, including a double and a triple, four RBI and three runs.  Juniors Maddie Decker and Alyssa Derrick have each driven in four runs, with Decker hitting a triple and a homer last weekend.
 
Maine has a team ERA of 2.12 and is allowing just a .176 opposing average.  Senior Annie Kennedy is 1-0 in five appearances with an 0.64 ERA in a team-high 11 innings.  In four appearances, senior Molly Flowers has a 1-0 record to go with an 0.78 ERA and 12 strikeouts in nine innings.