ROCK HILL, S.C. – The 2013 campaign continues for the University of Hartford softball team as it heads to Rock Hill, S.C. for the Winthrop Tournament. The three-day tournament, which features five games against five different opponents, kicks off on Friday with a 1:00 p.m. matchup against Dayton followed by a 5:00 p.m. nightcap with UNC-Greensboro.

The Hawks continue play on Saturday with two more games, both of which are first-time meetings, starting with a morning clash with Monmouth (11:00 a.m.) and concluding with Virginia at 3:00 p.m. The Tournament concludes on Sunday morning at 10:00 a.m. as the Hawks square off against fellow New England rival Rhode Island.

SCOUTING DAYTON | Dayton got off to a rough start in 2013, dropping its first six games of the year, including five at the Lovelace Invitation in Denton, Texas, but has since bounced back to win two of its last four at the Western Kentucky Tournament against South Dakota State and Pittsburgh. Kathleen Maloof paces Dayton at the plate with a .387 batting average. The senior outfielder has 12 hits, including two doubles and three home runs, and leads the team in runs scored (5) and RBI (8). Junior catcher Kasi Vazquez, who was named the A-10 Player of the Week on Monday combining for seven hits and a 1.154 slugging percentage in five games last week, owns the second-best batting average on the team (.346) and has four runs and four RBI. Also earning A-10 honors for the Flyers was pitcher Kayla English and rookie infielder Paige Rhodes, who were named the league's pitcher and rookie of the week, respectively.   

SERIES HISTORY WITH DAYTON | The Hawks and Flyers have met twice prior to this weekend's Winthrop Tournament. Hartford owns a 2-0 record against Dayton, scoring a 10-3 win in 2007 and a 3-1 victory in the following season.

SCOUTING UNC-GREENSBORO | UNC-Greensboro has gotten off to a hot start this season as it enters the weekend tournament with an overall mark of 11-2. The Spartans only losses have been to Belmont and Marshall, both of which were decide by a single run.  As a team, UNC-Greensboro is batting .294, led by rookie Lindsay Thomas and junior Katelyn Bedwell. The duo is each batting .400 on the season with 16 hits apiece. Thomas leads the team in runs scored (10), home runs (4) and has 10 RBI on the year while Bedwell tops the Spartans with 14 RBI. UNC-Greensboro has a knack for extra base hits as it has combined for 34 on the season, 20 more than its opponents. Inside the circle, righty Raeanna Hanks is 6-1 in 10 appearances and eight starts, and enters the weekend with a 1.19 ERA and 60 strikeouts.

SERIES HISTORY WITH UNC-GREENSBORO | Saturday's contest with UNC-Greensboro will mark the first-ever meeting between Hartford and the Spartans. Furthermore, of the nine current members of the Southern Conference, UNC-Greensboro is the first representative from that league that the Hawks have faced in their 28-year Division I era.

SCOUTING MONMOUTH | Hartford's first opponent from the Northeast this season, Monmouth enters the weekend with a perfect 3-0 mark, scoring a pair of five-inning, mercy-rule wins over Norfolk State (10-0, 11-0) and a 5-1 triumph over Delaware State. Kayla Weiser leads the Hawks at the plate with a .625 batting average, knocking-in four runs on five hits while scoring three runs. Alicia DeSanto has also paced Monmouth's offense, which has scored 26 runs this season, with a .500 (4-for-8) batting average, scoring three runs. Kate Kuzma, a senior, was tabbed Player of the Week by the Northeast Conference after recording seven RBI, including a three-run homerun and a grand slam, in Monmouth's opening games. Defensively, the Hawks have conceded just one run this season through three games, with three different pitchers earning starts. Lauren Sulick, the reigning NEC Pitcher of the Week, worked the circle in Monmouth's second game against Norfolk State, hurling a no-hitter while striking out six in the 10-run victory.

SERIES HISTORY WITH MONMOUTH | Saturday will mark another first-time meeting for Hartford as it has never played Monmouth in its 28-years as a member of the NCAA's highest ranking. Against current teams from the Northeast Conference, the Hawks are 53-52, having played Fairleigh Dickinson (3-1), Sacred Heart (12-12), Quinnipiac (7-8), Long Island-Brooklyn (1-0), CCSU (30-30) and Wagner (0-1)

SCOUTING VIRGINIA | The Cavaliers enter the Winthrop Tournament with a 6-7 overall record, most recently going 2-3 at the Palm Springs Tournament in California. Marcy Bowdren leads the Cavaliers' offense with 10 hits and a .278 batting average while Megan Harris has crossed home plate eight times and has one home run on the season. Four different players have contributed one home run a piece for Virginia. However, its defense has struggled early, conceding 12 long bombs thus far. Melanie Mitchell has seen the most action in the circle, throwing for 56.0 innings while making eight starts. In seven complete games, she has amassed a record of 5-3 coupled with a 1.62 ERA. Furthermore, she leads the Cavaliers' pitching staff with 64 strikeouts.

SERIES HISTORY WITH VIRGINIA | Hartford and Virginia will meet for the first time on Saturday. The Hawks have combined to play 18 games against current members of the ACC, and are 5-10 against Boston College and 0-3 against Virginia Tech.

SCOUTING RHODE ISLAND | Rhode Island has played just three games this season, suffering two losses to Coastal Carolina and one to Loyola (IL) at the Coastal Carolina Kickin' Chicken Classic. In that tournament, the Rams were outscored, 24-4, and were held to a team batting average of .101. Courtne Prendergast led Rhode Island at the plate with two hits and two runs scored while Ashley Olson and Stacey Fox knocked in the team's lone runs. Inside the circle, Erika Szymanski made two starts, allowing 10 earned runs and issuing five walks in 6.0 innings.

SERIES HISTORY WITH RHODE ISLAND | Sunday will mark the 30th meeting between Hartford and Rhode Island in a series that heavily favors the Rams, 25-14. The two teams last met in Kingston on March 4 of last year in a game that needed 10 innings to reach an outcome. Rhode Island ended up on top, 6-5, to score its fifth-straight win in the series.

LAST TIME OUT | The Hawks kicked off their season at the Florida International University Tournament, where they went 1-4 last weekend. After suffering a pair of lopsided losses on Friday to Mercer (9-1) and FIU (6-2) due to an error-riddled defense, Hartford got things together for its next two games. The Hawks started Saturday off trailing early against Savannah State, but rallied back to come within one run of the Lady Tigers in an 8-7 setback. The second game of the afternoon was even more heartbreaking, as Hartford played an error-free contest and fell one-run short of the victory in extra innings. The Hawks led, 6-4, through the top of the eighth but FIU used three hits to better the visiting squad, 7-6. In the final contest of the Classic, Hartford dominated from start to finish in every aspect of the game, scoring 13 runs on 13 hits while shutting down Savannah State for the 13-0, mercy-rule victory.

NEXT ON TAP | Upon its return from the Winthrop Tournament, Hartford will play in the Nutmeg State for the first time in 2013 when it travels the short distance to Hamden to take on the Quinnipiac Bobcats in a doubleheader. First pitch is scheduled to be tossed out at 2:00 p.m.

SHUT 'EM OUT | Junior Kaitlyn Meade tossed the first shutout this season for the Hawks, and got a plethora of run support she needed to pick up her first victory of 2013 against Savannah State on Sunday (Feb. 24). Meade worked for five innings, scattering just four hits and issuing just one walk during that stretch. Backing that stellar performance inside of the circle was Hartford's offensive, which exploded for 13 runs on 13 hits to earn its first win of the year.

OFFENSIVE EXPLOSION | In its first win of the year against Savannah State last weekend, Hartford slugged Savannah State in a 13-0 decision. The 13 runs scored were the most for a Hawks' team since 2009, when it belted out a 14-0 shutout of Rhode Island on March 18. Among the seven players who grabbed hits for the Hawks against the Lady Tigers, six collected multiple hits, led by three from Erica Phelps.

WHATS ON THE MENU | Hawks head coach Diana Consolmagno announced a 56-game schedule for 2013, a slate that is highlighted by a trio of non-conference tournaments and also includes three NCAA regional participants in Iona, Massachusetts and America East Tournament champion Boston University. The Hawks open up their season in the Sunshine State with the FIU Tournament where they are scheduled for five games. Following that tournament, Hartford remains on the road for the Winthrop Tournament and will then return home for its Nutmeg State debut which features doubleheaders at Quinnipiac followed by its home opener against Central Connecticut. Following the Delaware Tournament on Mar. 15-17, America East conference play begins shortly after with a three-game, weekend series in West Hartford against Stony Brook. The top four teams in the conference standings will qualify for the America East Softball Championships, which will be held at the site of the top-seed on May 9-12.

ALL-LEAGUERS | Hartford brings back a pair of America East All-Conference players from the 2012 season in Jordan Haines and Peyton Fisher. Haines, the league's first-team designated player last year, established career-best numbers in nearly every batting statistic as a junior, boasting a .329 on-base percentage while finishing with 12 extra base hits, including 10 doubles, while adding 14 runs and 12 RBI. Peyton Fisher, an all-rookie team selection who was named to the second-team as a utility hitter, batted .264 last season, ranking second on the team, and collected 34 hits in 47 starts.

EXTRA BASES | Jordan Haines and Kate Wacyk, a pair of seniors, led the Hawks last year in extra base hits. Haines collected 12 extra base hits in 2012, collected a team-best 10 doubles while adding one triple and a homer. Wacyk went saw 13 of her 31 hits go for multiple bases and led the team in triples (3) home runs (3) while adding seven two-baggers.

WHATS NEW | The Hawks welcome six new faces to the dugout in 2013 highlighted by Zuzana Kudernatschova and Jenice Aloyo, a pair of junior college transfers. A transfer from Highland Community College, Kudernatschova was an NJCAA All-American First Team pitcher who led all of Division II in innings pitched (236.0), runs (30), earned runs (15) and (342) while amassing 28 wins, the most in the nation. Aloyo comes to Hartford after playing one season at Western Texas College, where she batted .448, going 84-for-194 at the plate while recording 87 runs, 23 RBI and drawing 21 walks. Joining the roster as true freshmen are Erin Okoniewski, an infielder, utility player Sawyer Fried and Elizabeth Batsinelas, a pitcher. Brittany Beebe, a sophomore hurler from Harleysville, Pa., rounds out the new faces on the field for the Hawks in 2013.

POLL POSITION | In a preseason poll of the league's head coaches, the Hartford Hawks were picked to finish sixth among the seven members of the America East Conference. UAlbany and Boston University, the two teams that played for the 2012 America East Softball Championship, are the preseason favorites to finish the 2013 regular season atop the conference standings. The Great Danes and Terriers each received three first-place votes (coaches are not allowed to vote for their own team) and 32 points. Stony Brook, which received one first-place tally, followed in third with 29 points, while Binghamton came in fourth (19 points), one point ahead of Maine (18). Hartford (10) was picked sixth while UMBC (7) rounded out the poll.