STORRS, Conn. – The UConn softball team heads back to the Sunshine State this weekend to compete in THE Spring Games in Claremont, Fla. The Huskies look to keep the momentum going after a successful opening weekend

The Huskies face Stetson (3-2) and Central Michigan (0-0) once each on Friday and once each again on Saturday at Legends Way. UConn closes out the event with a Sunday afternoon contest against Purdue.

WEEKEND SCHEDULE / GAME INFORMATION:

Friday:

11:00 a.m. | UConn vs. Central Michigan – Live Stats

4:00 p.m. | UConn vs. Stetson – Live Stats

Saturday:

          11:00 a.m. | UConn vs. Stetson – Live Stats

          1:30 p.m. | UConn vs. Central Michigan

Sunday:

          12:30 p.m. | UConn vs. Purdue

HUSKY BITES:

• UConn is led by first-year head Coach Laura Valentino, who took over the helm in July. Valentino was most recently an assistant coach at Duke, which initiated its softball program prior to the 2018 season.
• The Huskies opened the season at the FGCU Kickoff Classic, finishing the weekend with a 3-2 mark. UConn earned victories over Georgetown (3-0), Boston College (3-2, 8 innings) and host FGCU (7-3) but fell to LIU (2-1, 8 innings) and Delaware (9-6).
• Junior pitcher Marybeth Olson was named to the AAC Weekly Honor Roll for Feb. 10 after a successful opening weekend. Olson made 4 appearances with one start over the weekend, walking two and striking out a conference-high 27 for the week in 14.2 innings pitched to go 2-0. In the season opener against Georgetown and dominated in the circle with six shutout innings of work, which included going perfect through three and recording a no-hitter through five, while only allowing three hits and tying a career-high with 11 strikeouts. In the 7-3 win over host-school FGCU, Olson racked up eight strikeouts in four innings of relief.

SCOUTING THE OPPONENTS:

• Stetson – Stetson comes into The Spring Games after a 3-2 showing at the Lead-Off Classic. The Hatters grabbed a pair of wins over George Mason and beat Sam Houston State 3-2, but dropped both contests to Boston University. In his 24th season as head coach of the Hatters, Frank Griffin holds a school record of 744-513 (.592) and has coached over 1250 games with the Hatters.
• Central Michigan – The Chippewas open the 2020 season at the Spring Games. CMU picked sixth in the Mid-American Conference preseason poll, finished 22-28-1 a season ago, including 11-9-1 in the MAC. McCall Salmon enters her first season as the Chippewas' head coach, replacing program legend Margo Jonker.
• Purdue – Purdue concluded its opening weekend with an undefeated 5-0 record. The Boilermakers notched wins over NIU, Bethune-Cookman, Indiana State and FAU (twice), outscoring their opponents 43-16.