Complete Notes
Upcoming in Gray Wolves Softball: After sweeping a season-opening doubleheader last weekend, Lourdes returns to the diamond this Friday.  The Gray Wolves will head indoors to the Total Sports Dome in Rossford to battle Huntington in a twinbill.

Head Coach Caitlin Blanchard: In her third season on the Lourdes bench, Caitlin Blanchard has a 28-49 (.364) record at the helm of the Gray Wolves as well as a collegiate head coach.  She is the only the second head coach in Lourdes program's history.

Series Notes: Lourdes and Huntington split their only previous doubleheader which was played at Pacesetter Park on March 18, 2016.  The Foresters won the opener 9-1 before the Gray Wolves bounced back to win game two of the twinbill 4-3.

Wrapping Up Last Week: Lourdes opened the 2024 season at home outdoors last Friday (Feb. 9), sweeping a doubleheader from Ohio Christian 14-6 and 7-3.  Olivia Hickman and Brooke Albert both drove home four runs in the opener while Taylor Leggins earned the win in relief in the circle.  In game two, Kirsten Smith went the distance to pick up the win while Annalisse Palma and Megan Richardson both had two RBI.

Scouting Huntington: The Foresters went 20-28 overall and 15-21 in the Cross Roads League action in 2023, finishing in seventh place.  Huntington will be making its 2024 debut against the Gray Wolves.  The Foresters return 15 players from last year's squad.  Breanna Hines led Huntington at the plate last season, batting .31 with 24 runs batted in.  Jo Walker hit at a .321 clip while Khloee Gregory hit four home runs and Carli Tharp had 23 RBI.  In the circle, Karlee Franklin went 8-15 with a 2.66 earned run average, striking out 127 in 139.2 innings of work.  Maddie Turner was 5-9 with a 2.96 ERA and 51 strikeouts.  

Heading Indoors: The doubleheader against Huntington will be played indoors in a dome at Total Sports.  This will mark the first indoor games for the Gray Wolves in program history.  

Getting an Early Start: With the first pitch of the season being thrown on Feb. 9, it marked the earliest the Gray Wolves have ever opened a campaign by 19 days.  The previous earliest start date was Feb. 28 when Lourdes opened the 2016 season in Florida.  This season, Lourdes has a total of eight games scheduled prior to Feb. 28, including six home games.

Looking for First 3-0 Start: Lourdes has never started a season 3-0 since the program began in 2013.  In fact, the only other 2-0 start the Gray Wolves have ever had was in 2022, head coach Caitlin Blanchard's first season at Lourdes.

Swinging a Hot Bat: Annalisse Palma had a solid opening doubleheader for the Gray Wolves.  She registered a pair of multi-hit games, batting .625 (5-for-8) while tallying a double and hitting the team's lone home run thus far this season.  Palma drove home four runs and posted a 1.125 slugging percentage.

More Offensive Production: Olivia Hickman and Brooke Albert both had strong opening weekends as well, driving in five and four runs respectively.  Hickman went 4-for-8 with two doubles while Albert also hit .500 (2-for-4) while drawing three walks and posting a .714 on base percentage.

Bats on Fire: Lourdes tallied 23 hits in the doubleheader against Ohio Christian, posting a .411 team batting average.  The Gray Wolves recorded at least 11 hits in each game and combined for six total extra base hits, five doubles and a home run.  

Leggins Earns First Collegiate Victory: Taylor Leggins came on in relief for the Gray Wolves in game one against Ohio Christian, picking up the victory with three innings of work.  She struck out three and scattered three hits while allowing just a pair of unearned runs.

Lourdes in Openers: With the game one win against Ohio Christian, Lourdes improved to 4-8 all-time record in season openers.  The win also improved the Gray Wolves to 1-2 all-time when opening the season at Gray Wolf Field.  The win was also just the second home-opening win for Lourdes, improving to 2-9 all-time in their first home game of the season.  The Gray Wolves are now 1-3 in home openers since moving to Gray Wolf Field in 2021.

Lourdes Debuts: Jaylen Jackson, Taylor Leggins, Jessyca Smith, and Robyn Ryan all made their collegiate debuts against Ohio Christian. In addition, Rachel Mease and Emily Robinson both made their first appearances in a Gray Wolf uniform.

In the Record Books: Emily Wallace has moved into a tie for fifth in program history with 117 career hits and is tied for fifth on the home run charts with seven long balls.  Annalisse Palma ranks fifth with 70 runs scored, is tied for eighth with 18 doubles, and tied for eighth with five home runs.  Megan Richardson is tied for ninth having scored 54 times, is ninth with 103 career hits, and is seventh with 23 doubles.  Brooke Albert is sixth with 25 doubles and tied for eighth with five career homers.

Gray Wolves Tabbed Ninth in WHAC Preseason Poll: Lourdes was picked to finish in a tie with Siena Heights for ninth place in the WHAC this season according to the league head coaches in their annual preseason balloting.  The Gray Wolves were selected just behind Michigan-Dearborn.  Concordia (Mich.)was tabbed as the preseason favorites.

This and That: Lourdes is 126-267 all-time in the program's 13th season ... Lourdes is 8-20 all-time in extra inning games ... seven of the 16 runs the Gray Wolves surrendered in the opening doubleheader were unearned as a result of five defensive errors.