LORETTO, PA- Saint Francis softball hits the road this weekend as they head back down south to East Carolina to take part in the ECU Pirate Bash.
 
The Red Flash will face Purdue (Friday and Saturday), Cleveland State (Friday and Sunday) and the host Pirates (Saturday night) during the weekend. Northeast Conference rival Wagner will also be a part of the Clash, but the two teams will not meet.
 
This will be the fourth-straight year the Red Flash will participate in the Clash, starting the tradition in 2015. In the three previous years, the Red Flash have gone a combined 11-5, including 4-1 in each of the past two seasons.
 
ABOUT THE RED FLASH
The Red Flash are coming off a 3-2 weekend at the Bash in the 'Boro. SFU defeated Savannah State and Winthrop, split two games with host Georgia Southern and fell to UT-Martin.
 
The offense was led by senior Hayley Norton (Spring Grove, Pa./Spring Grove) who hit a scorching .643 (9-14) over the five-game weekend and claimed the conference player of the week honors. Norton bashed four extra-base hits including a pair of home runs, her 42^nd and 43^rd of her career. That moves her into sole possession of second place on the SFU career list, trailing only Jordan Seneca (Plum, Pa./Plum) (2015-18) who has 48.
 
Saint Francis threw four pitchers over the five-game weekend, pitching to a 2.41 earned run average over the five games. Freshmen Meadow Uncapher (Mount Pleasant, Pa./Mount Pleasant High School) and Christina Clark (Avon, Ohio/Avon High School) each picked up their first collegiate wins over Savannah State (Uncapher) and Georgia Southern (Clark), Clark was named NEC Rookie of the Week for her efforts. Lauren Bertig (Indiana, Pa./Indiana High School) took a tough loss against UT-Martin, pitching six innings and allowing just one earned run. Senior Mikayla Bower (Williamsport, Pa./Williamsport) split her two starts, picking up a victory over Winthrop.
 
ABOUT PURDUE
The Boilermakers come into the weekend at 2-3 on the young season after participating in the Cougar Classic hosted by Charleston Southern. They bring back eight starters from a team that went 16-40 last season but did defeat SFU 4-3 as part of the Oklahoma City Classic. Purdue defeated Pitt and Central Michigan last weekend and dropped a pair to Virginia Tech and their lone game with the host College of Charleston. The trio of Madison Douglass, Mallory Baker and Jenny Behan paced the offense, each hitting at least .471 and all three driving five runs.
 
Pitching was a concern in the opening weekend for the Boilermakers as Purdue threw five pitchers to a team era of 6.12 thanks in part to 25 walks in 32 innings of work.
 
ABOUT CLEVELAND STATE
The Vikings will open their season at the tournament and were picked ninth in the Horizon League pre-season poll. CSU will be led by first-year head coach and CSU alum Amy Kyler, who averaged 26 wins a year over 11 seasons at Notre Dame (Ohio) as the Falcons transitioned from NAIA to D-II. Senior Riley Ries earned All-Horizon League honors last season while leading the Vikings with a .333 average. The Vikings will be led in the circle by two of their top three pitchers from last year in Macy Kaisk and Alicia Major. Both threw to ERAs near 4.50 over 50 innings last season.
 
ABOUT EAST CAROLINA
The host Pirates are off to the best start of the three teams the Red Flash will see this weekend, having gone 4-1 at the Spartan Classic hosted by USC-Upstate. They were led by a dynamite weekend effort from pitcher Erin Poepping, who went 3-0 with a 0.46 earned run average and claimed the AAC Pitcher of the Week Award.  The Pirates' offense averaged over seven runs an outing last weekend and All-AAC returner Tate McClellan slugged a pair of home runs and drove in a team high eight. ECU as a team hit .362 over the five games.
 
ALL-TIME SERIES
The Red Flash are 8-10 all-time against Cleveland State, but have won the last four meetings including a sweep back in 2017.  SFU is 7-2 against the host Pirates including a 6-1 mark all-time at the Pirate Clash. Purdue has won the lone meeting between the two teams, a 4-3 decision last year in Oklahoma City.
 
FOLLOW ALONG
All of the games at East Carolina will have live stats provided by the Pirates. Only the game against ECU will be streamed (for free). You can also follow along with @RedFlashSB for in-game updates and graphics, all of the links can be found on the softball schedule page.
 
LOOKING AHEAD
The Red Flash are heading back south again next weekend, heading to Boiling Spring, North Carolina to take part in the Gardner-Webb Softball tournament against Bowling Green, East Tennessee State and the host Bulldogs.