MILWAUKEE – Today at the Neumann Family Softball Field, the Mount Mary University softball team will host Finlandia University (18-11). The Lions and Blue Angels (8-16) stroll onto the diamond today winning their last two games, however, Finlandia owns the all-time series between the schools at 7-0. The Association of Division III Independents showdown starts today at 3:00 pm.
MMU comes into this afternoon's doubleheader riding a high from yesterday's sweep against the Maranatha Baptist University Sabercats (6-18). The Blue Angels trailed in game one, but after a pair of homeruns from freshman slugger Sidnee Turnage (Hesperia, Calif.) Mount Mary turned the tables. Outscoring their opponents 21-6 in the two games, the Blue Angels entire roster got their bats going.
Along with the active raking from the Blue Angels, Hannah Harnsberger (Fr./Hillsboro, Ore.) turned in another complete game in the second contest to give her a record of 4-8 on the year. That was the seventh complete game for Harnsberger, and it cut her ERA down to 6.78.
Both MMU and Finlandia have seen the weather wreak havoc on their April schedules. The Lions come into the game having only played two doubleheaders since the beginning of the month. That gives MMU perhaps an edge in timing as they have been able to squeeze in four doubleheaders this April despite the inclement weather.
On paper, the Lions have the upper hand in nearly every offensive and pitching statistic. As a team Finlandia has garnered an impressive .381 batting average, .482 on-base percentage and .513 slugging percentage. The Lions team ERA of 3.74 is almost half of MMU's team ERA (7.00).
The discrepancies could be due to the difference in strength of schedule. According to MasseyRatings.com, Finlandia's strength of schedule is 21 points weaker than that of the Blue Angels. Extrapolating from those numbers, the Lions rating per opponent is much closer to that of Maranatha Baptist than MMU.
Today's game will have live statistical coverage. All links for the doubleheaders can be found at mtmaryathetlics.com.
