First pitch for the Saturday doubleheader is slated for 1 p.m. and Sunday’s single game is set for an 11 a.m. start.

    The Penguins will honor senior Tasha Hess and Allyse Ledford, who will be playing in their final YSU home contests this weekend.

    The Penguins and Phoenix have met 21 times previously. Green Bay owns a slim 11-10 edge in the all-time series.

In last year’s three-game series in Green Bay, the Phoenix took two of three games from the Penguins. The Phoenix won, 9-0, and 2-1, during a doubleheader sweep. However, the Penguins won, 8-3, in the single game match up. The last time the Penguins and Phoenix played at McCune Park in 2007, the Guins swept a doubleheader, 12-4 and 3-2.

With its 6-5 win over Butler last Sunday (April 26), the Youngstown State softball team recorded the 500th win in the program’s history. Sophomore Kristina Rendle’s seventh-inning two-out single broke a 5-5 tie and lifted the Guins to the victory.

Over the last eight games, freshman Jordan Ingalls has been a tough out. She is batting .455 (10-for-22) over that span, including a 5-for-6 performance against Saint Francis (Pa.) on April 23, and improved her batting average 25 points from .294 to .319. Ingalls went 3-for-3 with a home run in game one and 2-for-3 in the nightcap. YSU lost both games, 2-1 and 9-1.

The Penguins were swept by Pittsburgh, 9-0, 7-1, on Wednesday afternoon at McCune Park.

Sophomore Kim Klonowski seems to be at her best when runners are on base. The Canton, Mich., native is batting .395 with runners on base and .400 with runners in scoring position. When a runner is on third and less than two outs, Klonowski is hitting a blistering .636.

Junior Autumn Grove tied two YSU single-game records against Akron on April 21. Grove tied the single-game record for most home runs in a game with two and most runs batted in with six. The last time a YSU player recorded six RBIs in a game was Assistant Coach Tiffany Patteson against Army in 2004.

Junior Cheryl Cale picked up her seventh win of the season with a 6-5 win over Butler on April 26. In her wins, Cale owns a 1.49 earned-run average with two shutouts and 17 strikeouts. She has also limited her opponents to a .238 batting average in those games.

Freshman outfielder Haley Thomas and sophomore Kim Klonowski are tied for the team’s highest batting average against Horizon League opponents. Each player is batting .338 but Klonowski leads the squad with six home runs against the league. Thomas has collected four doubles and a triple against league opposition and each has scored eight runs.

With 170.2 innings pitched this season, junior Cheryl Cale moved into fourth place on the YSU single-season innings pitched chart. Cale needs seven more innings to move into third place on the list. She also ranks tied for second with 28 starts. The record is 33 held by Kelly Murphy in 2003.

By scoring four times in YSU’s 11-2 win over Toledo on April 8, freshman Haley Thomas became just the second player in school history to accomplish that feat. The last time a YSU player scored four times in a game was Debbie Garvin against Ohio State on May 1, 1981.

Green Bay enters the series with an overall record of 15-23 and a Horizon League mark of 4-13. Melani Niederer leads the team with a .339 batting average while Katie Cooney is batting .331 with a team-best 20 runs batted in. Amanda Margelofsky leads the pitching staff with an 8-7 record, a 3.03 earned-run average, 101.2 innings pitched and 64 strikeouts.

Youngstown State returns to the road for the 2009 Horizon League Softball Championships, May 7-9, in Pendleton, Ind. The tournament is hosted by Butler.