KALAMAZOO, Mich. -- The Western Michigan softball team is only taking a day off before being back in action in the Buckeye State this week.

LAST TIME OUT
The Broncos went 1-4 at their final non-conference tournament of the season at the Cathi Maynard Invitational hosted by Austin Peay. WMU picked up its second shutout win of the year on Saturday afternoon in a 4-0 victory over the Lipscomb Bisons. But that was the only win of the weekend for the Brown and Gold, who dropped a game to Butler and three games to Austin Peay on Friday and Sunday.

Western Michigan took the Governors down to the wire on Sunday afternoon as neither team had scored going into the final two innings. But one run crossed the plate for Austin Peay to give them the victory over the Broncos to close out the weekend. Freshman Bella Duncan led WMU at the plate with a .389 batting average with seven hits, two doubles, and three RBIs. Duncan was the only member of the Brown and Gold squad who had multiple hits for multiple bases while two players, outfielder Rylee O'Brien and catcher Tristen Head, had Western Michigan's two home runs of the weekend.

STRIKEOUT CENTRAL
The Bronco pitchers had their best weekend striking out batters in the circle at the Cathi Maynard Invitational. Across the five games over the weekend, WMU threw out a season-high of 30 batters at its non-conference tournament. Freshman pitcher Hannah Potts led the Brown and Gold with 15 strikeouts in the circle while freshman Ava Geyer was right behind Potts with 13 strikeouts.

Western Michigan's pitching staff currently leads the Mid-American Conference in both strikeout-to-walk ratio at 2.00 and in team strikeouts per seven innings at 6.69. The Broncos are also ranked 19th nationally in team strikeouts, with the next closest MAC team being ranked at 62nd nationally (Central Michigan; 5.74). Individually, Geyer leads the conference in three pitching categories, strikeout-to-walk ratio (3.40), strikeouts (51), and strikeouts per seven innings (7.1). 

FIGHTING AT THE PLATE
With 18 at bats and only one strikeout on the weekend, freshman Bella Duncan has entered the rankings for being one of the toughest players to strikeout in Division I softball. With conference play on the horizon this weekend, Duncan ranks fourth in the MAC in the category, only striking out every 30.5 at bats. So far on the season, Duncan has only struck out at the plate twice, once at Austin Peay (3/8) and once against Dayton (2/6) to begin the 2026 season. 

SCOUTING THE BUCKEYES
Coming into Tuesday's midweek game, Ohio State is 8-12 on the season and earned their first conference wins over Iowa this past weekend. The Buckeyes clinched their first conference series win with a 10-2 victory against the Hawkeyes on Sunday afternoon. Ohio State also won the first game of the series on Friday 5-2. The Buckeyes also have wins over Army, Wisconsin, Northern Illinois, Abeline Christian, Syracuse, and Delaware prior to Tuesday's game.

Ohio State is led at the plate by sophomore infielder Abbie Wilhelm. The transfer player leads the team with a .383 batting average with 23 hits, 5 doubles, 2 triples, 9 home runs, and 19 RBIs. Wilhelm also leads the team in slugging percentage at .983. In the circle, the Buckeyes mostly throw freshman right-hander Jenna Molk who has 13 appearances on the season with 11 starts. Molk currently holds a 4.27 ERA with a 5-7 record, throwing 57.1 innings for 39 strikeouts and 25 walks.

SCOUTING THE FLYERS
Dayton and WMU will meet for the second time this season after opening 2026 against each other in South Carolina. Since the Brown and Gold won their first meeting 3-2 in nine innings, the Flyers have gone 8-7 with wins over Le Moyne, Presbyterian, Morehead State, Mount St. Mary's, Manhattan, Elon, and Murray State. Dayton dropped its opening A-10 series this past weekend to Loyola, falling in all three games to the Ramblers. The Flyers last win came over the Murray State Racers on March 1 in a 7-1 decision.

Junior catcher Deirdre Flaherty leads Dayton at the plate with a .370 batting average with 17 hits, 4 doubles, 2 home runs, 15 RBIs, and 3 runs scored. She also leads the team in OPS at .958. The Flyers most used pitcher in the circle is senior Izzy Kemp, who has pitched 43 of Dayton's 108.1 innings this season. Kemp has appeared in 10 games with 5 starts, having a record of 4-2 with a 1.30 ERA, allowing just 8 earned runs while striking out 77 batters.