Flash Points:

• SFU Softball hosts Mount St. Mary's on Saturday for its NEC and home opener.
• A doubleheader will begin at 1 p.m. at the Red Flash Softball Field.
• The Red Flash is 16-15 overall heading into its first NEC twinbill, while Mount St. Mary's is 8-14.
• Head Coach Jennifer Patrick-Swift is approaching 300 career wins.

LORETTO, Pa. – The Saint Francis Softball team hosts Mount St. Mary's on Saturday for its NEC and home opener.  A doubleheader will begin at 1 p.m. at the Red Flash Softball Field, with a broadcast on NEC Front Row.  Dan Griffin will be on the call.
 
The Red Flash, led by Head Coach Jennifer Patrick-Swift, returns to play after nearly two weeks off.  Saint Francis is 16-15 overall heading into its NEC opener.  The Red Flash last played at the Wooo Pig Classic, hosted by Arkansas, where SFU earned wins over Omaha and Iowa State.
 
Mount St. Mary's, coached by Anna Nagro, is 8-14 overall and will also make its NEC debut.  The Mount split a pair of midweek games, with an 11-7 win over Kent State, but a 6-4 loss at UMKC.
 
SERIES HISTORY
The Red Flash is 54-23 all-time against Mount St. Mary's.  Saint Francis has won 11 straight games in the series, including last year's sweep in Emmitsburg. 
 
PATRICK-SWIFT APPROACHING 300 CAREER WINS
With two wins at the Wooo Pig Classic, Head Coach Jennifer Patrick-Swift now has 296 in her career, including 203 as the leader of the Red Flash. 
Since taking over the SFU program in 2012, Patrick-Swift is 203-148, winning nearly 58 percent of the games she has coached at SFU.  Patrick-Swift is already the all-time wins leader at SFU and the first coach in program history to reach the 200-win mark.

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.
 
CHALLENGING NON-CONFERENCE SLATE
The Red Flash began the season with an extremely challenging non-conference slate, which includes 15 games against Power Five programs and 12 against teams who played in the 2017 NCAA Tournament.  SFU has already played two games each against current No. 10 Auburn, No. 23 Arkansas and No. 25 Oklahoma State and another game against No. 2 Oklahoma.

The Red Flash owns four wins over RPI Top 100 opponents, including victories over Iowa State, Drake, Georgia State and Ball State.  SFU has played 15 games against the RPI Top 100 and four more against RPI Top 150 teams.  The rest of the NEC has three combined wins against the Top 100.  SFU is currently ranked 119th in the RPI, 34 spots ahead of any other NEC team.
 
COLLECTING DINGERS
After hitting 146 homers in the last two seasons, Saint Francis is once again on track to be among the top power teams in the nation.  With four homers in Arkansas, SFU is up to 29 on the season.  Saint Francis ranks 35th in the nation in home runs per game, with 0.94, and 33rd in total homers. 

Senior Madison Cabell (Ivor, Va./Southampton) leads the NEC with eight homers and 22 RBI.  Mikayla Bower (Williamsport, Pa./Williamsport), Hayley Norton (Spring Grove, Pa./Spring Grove) and Kassidy Troxell (Navarre, Ohio/Perry) have four homers each.  Eight SFU players have at least one homer this season.
 
FRANK SPARKS LINEUP
Freshman Jordan Frank (DuBois, Pa./DuBois Central Catholic) did not register her first college at-bat until March 3 against Maine.  However, Frank has quickly established herself as a spark at the top of the lineup.  In her first career at-bat, Frank homered to center.  She followed that with her first career start and another homer vs. Omaha before hitting a leadoff double, off the top of the wall, in the fourth inning against No. 5 Oklahoma on March 7.  Frank hit a go-ahead two-run triple in the seventh inning in the win over UConn.  Among her nine hits, in 14 games with an at-bat, Frank has six extra base hits, five RBI, 10 runs, a .564 slugging percentage and a .362 on-base percentage.  
 
STRONG IN THE CIRCLE
The Red Flash is off to a solid start in the circle this year, with a 2.95 team ERA and a .225 batting average against.  SFU's ERA ranks second in the NEC, despite 15 games against Power Five teams, seven games against ranked opponents and eight games against 2017 NCAA Tournament teams.

Abby Trahan (Kaplan, La./Kaplan) is 12-10 with a 2.82 ERA in 25 appearances, with 16 complete games and two shutouts.  She leads the NEC with 111 strikeouts and 12 wins.  Trahan's 111 strikeouts already tops her total from the 2017 season.  Trahan has eight outings in which she has gone at least seven innings and allowed one or less earned run.  Trahan recorded a career-high 14 strikeouts on March 2 against Omaha and took a No-Hitter into the seventh in the second game against the Mavericks.

Adrian Smith (Clairsville, Ohio/St. Clairsville) owns a 3.24 ERA and a 4-5 record, including six complete games and two shutouts.  She has five outings in which she has gone at least five innings and allowed one or less earned run.
 
SCOUTING THE MOUNT
Mount St. Mary's is 8-14 overall after splitting its midweek non-conference games this week.
 
The Mountaineers average 3.1 runs per game, ranking fifth in the NEC, and has a team average of .202, ninth in the conference.  Junior Lindsay Heinze is leading the Mount in nearly every offensive category.  Heinze leads the team with a .317 average and 20 hits, including five doubles and six homers, with 20 RBI and 12 runs. Senior Morgan Alisauckas has 14 hits, including four doubles and a homer, to go with four RBI and 12 runs.
 
Mount St. Mary's has a team ERA of 4.61, ranking fifth in the NEC.  Sophomore Jordan Weaver is 4-6 with a 3.88 ERA in 14 appearances, with 39 strikeouts in 61.1 innings.  Junior Katie Olson has a 3.41 ERA to go with a 2-2 record in 14 appearances.