Tampa Set to Welcome Nova Southeastern for Senior Weekend

TAMPA, Fla. - The University of Tampa softball team is set to take on Sunshine State Conference opponent Nova Southeastern University in a three game series beginning Friday at Naimoli Family Field.

The series will open with a single game on Friday at 6 p.m., followed by a Saturday doubleheader that begins at 1 p.m. Six Tampa seniors will be honored between games, with Meagan Burke, Taylor Collins, Lindsay Dring, Jenna Halper, Kandi Kuder, and Julia Morrow being part of the ceremony. UT will also recognize the seniors from Nova Southeastern.

The Spartans own a 24-9 overall record and a 12-6 SSC mark puts UT just one game behind Barry (29-12, 13-5 SSC) with six conference games remaining for both squads. Tampa is riding a seven game winning streak with a pair of league sweeps over Florida Southern and Eckerd.

UT is led by senior ace Julia Morrow who is holds an overall record of 21-5 with 289 strikeouts while sporting a 1.46 ERA in 181.2 innings pitched. She has tossed 24 complete games including two perfect games, a no-hitter, and 10 shutouts.

Offensively, Meagan Burke is leading the way, hitting .347 on the season with a team-high five homeruns along with 17 RBI. Kandi Kuder, Lindsay Dring, and Bre Setree are all batting over .300 as Kuder has tallied a team-leading 37 hits with 11 RBI while Dring has contributed 31 hits and 15 RBI, and Setree holds a team-best 19 RBI with one homerun and 29 hits.

Nova (16-21, 4-14 SSC) enters the matchup led by Lorena Spaulding and Rebecca Thornton. Spaulding sports a team-leading .489 batting average with 45 hits and 11 steals. Thornton posts a team-best 2.09 ERA with a 13-9 overall record while tossing 144.0 innings, including two shutouts and 18 complete games for NSU.

Tampa leads the all-time series by a 21-13 mark, and took two of three from the Sharks last season in Fort Lauderdale. UT has also taken two of three games from Nova in each of the last three series in Tampa.

Admission to all UT softball games is free of charge. Live stats and a broadcast will be available through tampaspartans.tv.

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