UConn Softball will travel down to Greensboro, North Carolina with hopes of climbing above .500. The Huskies are scheduled to face Indiana University, UNC Greensboro and the University of Delaware in the University of North Carolina Greensboro Invitational.
UConn is coming off a weekend in which they went 3-2, bringing their season record to 4-4. Freshman Grace Jenkins won Big East Freshman of the Week for her performance last weekend while Savannah Ring made the Big East Honor Roll of the Week.
Grace Jenkins leads the Huskies with all four of the team’s home runs and nine RBIs. Jenkins along with Ring, Aziah James and Makenzie Mason account for the four hitters batting above .400 in their eight games so far. Hope Jenkins leads the UConn staff with 21.0 innings pitched, along with a 6.43 ERA on 15 earned runs. Sophomore Delaney Nagy made her first three appearances last weekend, amounting 5.0 innings pitched while allowing just two runs. As a staff, UConn has a 6.29 ERA with 34 earned runs. On the other end of the field, UConn is batting .278 as a team with a slugging percentage of .412.
UConn opens the weekend taking on the Indiana Hoosiers. The Hoosiers are losers of their last five games, four of those coming against ranked opponents. Indiana has been outscored 43-4 during this losing streak, with three of those losses being by double digits. Brianna Copeland has been their best pitcher so far, starting in two games and appearing in another four to an ERA of 3.13 in 15.2 innings pitched. She has 16 strikeouts and has given up only seven total earned runs. The workhorse of the staff is Heather Johnson, who has started in five games for the Hoosiers to the tune of a 7.64 ERA on 20 earned runs in 18.1 innings pitched. Offensively, Brooke Benson leads the team with seven RBIs and Cora Bassett leads the team with seven hits so far on the season. Indiana scored 17 runs in their season opener against Pittsburgh but hasn’t put up more than five runs in a game since.
Similar to Indiana, Delaware is also on a five-game losing skid of their own. The Blue Hens started the season in the 2023 Bearkat Classic, sweeping the weekend winning all four of their games. They then went on to the Houston Invitational where they lost all five of their games versus five different teams. Kiara Mills leads Delaware with seven RBIs while Katie Scheivert leads the team with a .417 batting average, starting in all nine of the team’s games. Emily Winburn has started four of the Blue Hens’ games and appeared in another two, collecting an ERA of 1.21 in 29.0 innings on just five earned runs. Relief arm Kendall Shank has appeared in three games so far, amassing a 1.27 ERA in 11.0 innings on just two earned runs.
Unlike UConn’s other opponents, UNC Greensboro is coming off a successful weekend, winning four out of five matchups in the Spiro Classic. On the young season, the Spartans are 7-4 and have played solidly on both sides of the ball. Maycin Brown has dominated, smacking five home runs and 15 RBIs in 11 games. Right behind her is Delaney Cumbie who is batting .419 with three home runs and 7 RBIs herself. Maddie Spell, who appeared in four games and started three, has a 0.88 ERA in 16.0 innings. Pitcher Jorde Chartrand has three starts in six appearances, amassing a 3.21 ERA in 24.0 innings pitched. Chartrand also had a 10-strikeout performance in the Spartans’ loss against Campbell last game.
With two teams who have hit the early season struggles and another who is piecing it all together, the Huskies have a great opportunity to capitalize and pick up some early season wins. The teams they play definitely won’t make it easier, but the Huskies have shown glimpses of greatness in their first two weekends. This will be yet another great test of UConn’s grit and hopefully they can build momentum in the last two weeks before Big East play begins.
