University of Minnesota Athletics
Minnesota Opens Big Ten Schedule at Iowa
3/22/2013 12:00:00 AM | Softball
March 22, 2013
 | Minnesota (17-10, 0-0) at Iowa (19-8, 0-0) |
| Game One | Friday, March 22 at 4:00 p.m. CT |
| Game Two | Saturday, March 23 at 2:00 p.m. CT |
| Game Three | Sunday, March 24 at 2:00 p.m. CT |
| Location | Bob Pearl Softball Field (1,500) | Iowa City, Iowa |
| Radio | TV | Hawkeye All-Access (Fee) | None |
| Game Notes | Minnesota  | Iowa |
| 2013 Statistics | Minnesota | Iowa |
The First Pitch
• Minnesota (17-10) opens Big Ten play at the University of Iowa (19-8) this weekend. The Gophers and Hawkeyes will play three games, beginning on Friday at 4:00 p.m. CT. First pitch on both Saturday and Sunday is slated for 2:00 p.m. CT.
• The Gophers are 17-10 after going 4-1 during their Spring Break trip to Tallahassee, Fla. Minnesota opened with a 3-2 win at Florida State as part of the Seminoles' Sunshine Classic. The Gophers then swept games from Georgia Southern by scores of 5-0 and 7-1, before wrapping up the weekend with a 4-3 loss to FSU. Minnesota posted a 10-0 win in five innings at Florida A&M on Wednesday.
• Head coach Jessica Allister is in her third season at Minnesota with a record of 79-56 (.585). She entered the season with 62 victories over her first two seasons, which are the most over a two-year span since Minnesota combined for 70 wins during 2003-04.
• Minnesota owns an all-time record of 38-58 against the Iowa Hawkeyes. Last season, Iowa closed out Minnesota's regular season by winning two of three games at Jane Sage Cowles Stadium. Iowa won by a 1-0 score in eight innings on May 11, and the teams split on May 12, with Minnesota winning by a score of 4-1 before dropping the final game of the series, 5-4.
• Minnesota has combined to hit 24 home runs in its 27 games so far, after hitting 53 homers in 53 games during the 2012 season. Junior centerfielder Bree Blanchette, sophomore shortstop Tyler Walker and sophomore third baseman Kaitlyn Richardson each lead the team with five home runs.
• Junior right-handed pitcher Sara Moulton was ranked among the top 20 for victories (7th), earned run average (15th) and hits allowed per seven innings (19th) in this week's NCAA statistics. For the season, Moulton is 15-6 with a 1.15 ERA, 13 complete games, and 164 strikeouts in 134.0 IP.
• Tyler Walker and Kaitlyn Richardson each have impressive numbers over the past four weekends. Richardson is batting .500 (26-for-52) with 11 R, 17 RBI, five doubles and three HRs, while Walker is batting .441 (26-for-59) with 19 runs scored, 10 RBI, six doubles, four home runs, and nine stolen bases in nine attempts.
(For the PDF version of the full 26-page Minnesota Game Notes, click the link in the box at the top of the page, or Click Here)
