Flash Points:

• SFU Softball travels to Marshall on Tuesday for a non-conference doubleheader.
• The twinbill begins at 1 p.m. at Dot Hicks Field with a broadcast on ESPN3.
• The Red Flash is 18-15 coming off a sweep over Mount St. Mary's in its NEC opener.
• Head Coach Jennifer Patrick-Swift is two wins away from her 300th career victory.
• SFU is once again one of the top home run-hitting teams in the nation, ranking 17th in DI with 36 homers, hit by nine different players.
• Marshall is 15-18-1, including a 6-5-1 mark in Conference USA.

Game Notes
Game 1 Live Stats | ESPN3
Game 2 Live Stats | ESPN3
 
LORETTO, Pa. – The Saint Francis Softball team travels to Marshall on Tuesday to play a doubleheader.  The twinbill is set to start at 1 p.m. at Dot Hicks Field against the Thundering Herd.  The games will be broadcast on ESPN3.
 
The Red Flash, led by Head Coach Jennifer Patrick-Swift, is 18-15 overall and on a three-game win streak after sweeping its NEC opener on Saturday.  SFU earned 10-0 and 8-0 wins, both in five innings, against Mount St. Mary's.  With the sweep, SFU has won 21 straight NEC regular season games, recorded back-to-back shutouts in an NEC opener for the first time since 2014 and run-ruled both games of an NEC series for the first time since April 22, 2017 at Bryant.
 
Marshall, coached by Jen Steele, is 15-18-1 this season, with a 6-5-1 mark in Conference USA.  Last week, the Herd won the opening game of its series against Florida International but dropped the last two games.
 
SERIES HISTORY
The Red Flash trails 4-1 in the all-time series.  The teams split a doubleheader in 2016 with SFU falling 9-2 in the first game but winning the second game, 4-0.
 
PATRICK-SWIFT APPROACHING 300 WINS
With a sweep over Mount St. Mary's, Head Coach Jennifer Patrick-Swift now has 298 wins in her career, including 205 as the leader of the Red Flash. 
Since taking over the SFU program in 2012, Patrick-Swift is 205-148, winning 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.
 
POWER SURGE
The Red Flash hit seven homers, by seven different players, in its doubleheader sweep over Mount St. Mary's.  Saint Francis now has 36 homers this season, already the third-most in a season at SFU.  SFU ranks 16th in the nation in home runs per game, with 1.09, and 17th in total homers.
 
Nine different players have hit at least one homer this year, led by Madison Cabell (Ivor, Va./Southampton)'s nine.  Cabell paces the NEC in homers and RBI (24).  Mikayla Bower (Williamsport, Pa./Williamsport) and Hayley Norton (Spring Grove, Pa./Spring Grove) each have five homers, while Sierra McKee (DuBois, Pa./DuBois) and Kassidy Troxell (Navarre, Ohio/Perry) each have four. 
 
On Saturday, SFU hit three homers in game one and four in game two.  The seven homers were hit by seven different players.  The homers in game two came in two back-to-back sequences.  Cheyenne McKee (DuBois, Pa./DuBois) and Norton hit back-to-back bombs in the first inning and Bower and Jordan Seneca (Plum, Pa./Plum) blasted back-to-back dingers in the fourth.  It was SFU's first time going back-to-back twice in a game since April 23, 2016 vs. Bryant.
 
STRONG IN THE CIRCLE
The Red Flash is off to a solid start in the circle this year, with a 2.81 team ERA and a .222 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.  SFU posted back-to-back shutouts in its NEC opening series vs. Mount St. Mary's.  SFU has not allowed a run in 16 straight innings, dating back to its 3-2 win over Iowa State on March 18 and has not walked a batter in 22.2 innings, dating back to its 4-3 setback at Arkansas on March 17.

Abby Trahan (Kaplan, La./Kaplan) is 13-10 with a 2.73 ERA in 26 appearances, with 17 complete games and three shutouts.  She leads the NEC with 116 strikeouts and 13 wins.  Trahan's 116 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 3.00 ERA and a 5-5 record, including seven complete games and three shutouts.  She has six outings in which she has gone at least five innings and allowed one or less earned run.
 
CHALLENGING NON-CON 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.
 
SCOUTING THE HERD
Marshall is 15-18-1 overall, including a 6-5-1 record in Conference USA.  The Thundering Herd won its series opener against FIU, 10-9, on Friday.  However, Marshall lost the nightcap 10-2 and fell 9-5 on Saturday.
 
The Thundering Herd is averaging four runs per game and batting .280 as a team.  Marshall ranks fourth in the nation in steals per game, averaging 2.44.  Senior Jordan Colliflower leads the team with a .386 average to go with eight RBI, 10 runs and 12 steals.  Elicia D'Orazio is batting .370 with five RBI, 31 runs and a team-high 29 steals, which ranks ninth in the nation.  Taylor McCord has a .340 average with four homers and 24 RBI.
 
In the circle, Marshall has a 3.54 team ERA and allows a .277 opposing average.  Junior Abigail Tolbert has a 6-7 record and a 3.24 ERA in 23 appearances, with 52 strikeouts in 95 innings.  Ali Burdette has a 3.30 ERA and a 3-5 mark in 23 appearances, while Kailee Williamson is 5-6 with a 4.04 ERA in 20 appearances.