Tournament Central

BOWLING GREEN, Ky. - The IUPUI softball team will return to the Bluegrass State for the second straight weekend when the Jaguars participate in this weekend's Holiday Inn Hilltopper Classic at Michael O. Buchanon Park. 

The Jaguars will play Green Bay and Indiana State on Friday (Feb. 28) before playing Wright State and Northern Iowa on Saturday (Mar. 1). Head Coach Amanda Rivera's team will conclude play against host Western Kentucky on Sunday (Mar. 2). 

IUPUI (5-6) went 1-2 at the Louisville Cardinal Classic last weekend, routing Northern Kentucky 21-5 before falling to Louisville and Central Michigan. The Jaguars banged out a season-high 18 hits in the win over NKU, with three Jaguars enjoying three-hit games. Senior Lindsey Richards was 3-for-3 with a homer and freshman Roni Patterson was 3-for-4 from the cleanup spot. 

The pitching went south in the final two games of the tourney as Louisville rolled to a 12-1 five inning win and Central Michigan won 15-6 on Sunday. 

For the year, sophomore Alyssa Neff leads the offense with a .464 batting average and Indiana State-transfer Sarah Lawrence is batting .455 with a team-high .606 slugging percentage. Patterson is batting .400 with five extra-base hits as IUPUI comes into the weekend with a .316 team batting average. Good has driven in a team-high 10 runs in 11 games, while Lawrence has a team-high 10 runs scored. 

In the circle, fifth-year senior Jocelyn Oppenhuis has been the most effective of the Jaguars' three pitchers, registering a 4.10 earned run average in a team-best 27.1 innings of work. Oppenhuis also leads the staff in starts (5), complete games (2), strikeouts (18) and opponents batting average (.234). Both she and Cassie Vodde have two wins each for the Jaguars.

Live stats and box scores from all five games will be available throughout the weekend at the Tournament Central link, located at the top of the page.