MACOMB, Ill. – The Western Illinois Softball team will play host to Oakland in the first home and Summit League action of the season March 11-12 at Mary Ellen McKee Stadium.

The Fighting Leathernecks (2-8) are coming off a loss at Ohio on Monday and are looking to defend their status as back-to-back Summit League Regular Season Champions.

The Golden Grizzlies (4-10) dropped two games to Morehead State over the weekend and were rained out of their other two games at the Morehead State Tournament.

The Matchup
Who: Western Illinois (2-8) vs. Oakland (4-10)
When: Friday, March 11 (DH) at 3 p.m. and Saturday, March 12 at 12 p.m.
Location: Macomb, Ill.

Coverage
Live Stats • GoLeathernecks.com (free)
Radio • WIUS 88.3 FM (free)
Play-by-Play: Julio Rausseo

PREVIOUSLY AT OHIO: Western Illinois nearly overcame an early 4-0 deficit before falling 4-3 at Ohio on Monday... the Leathernecks were originally scheduled to play two games each against Cleveland State and Ohio over the weekend... rain forced the cancellation of the Ohio University Invitational... Western faced Cleveland State in a scrimmage on Sunday evening before traveling to Ohio for a single game... Ashley Campbell and Hailey Bickford combined to shutout the Bobcats over the final four innings of play... Erin Schlotfeldt's solo homer in the top of the seventh closed the gap to 4-3... Jamie Goss picked up a two-run double in the sixth...Nikki Marinec was 1-for-3 with a run in the leadoff spot.

SCOUTING THE GOLDEN GRIZZLIES: Oakland enters the weekend with a 4-10 record after dropping two games to Morehead State over the weekend... the Golden Grizzlies fell in both games of a doubleheader on March 4... Oakland lost game one 8-7 and dropped game two by a 2-0 score... Morehead State won game one in walkoff fashion in the eighth... Oakland is led at the plate by Kelsey Krych who is batting .408 with six RBI... she is also 12-for-12 in stolen base attempts this year... Kylie Schalz leads Oakland with 11 RBI and two homers while Erin Galloway has driven in 10 runs... as a team; Oakland is 30-for-36 in stolen base attempts.

A FAMILIAR FACE: The Leathernecks will play host to a familiar face this weekend when Oakland comes to town... Golden Grizzlies head coach LaDonia Hughes was an assistant at Western Illinois for four seasons before taking the reigns at Oakland this season... during her time at Western, the Leathernecks won three Summit League Regular Season titles and advanced to the NCAA Tournament in 2008 after winning the league tournament... she played two seasons at LSU after a stellar career at Lake City C.C... Hughes was a Louisville Slugger/NFCA Second Team All-American for LSU and also earned First Team All-SEC and All-South Region honors... she helped the Tigers reach the College World Series in 2004... she also played professionally for six seasons in the National Pro Fastpitch Association.

THE SERIES: Western Illinois is 29-12 all-time against Oakland and carries a six-game winning streak over the Golden Grizzlies... the Leathernecks have lost just three times to Oakland since the start of the 2004 season... Western's longest winning streak in the series was nine games from 2004-06... Oakland won four in a row from 2002-03 but have not won had a streak longer than one win since then.

SUMMIT LEAGUE OPENER: This weekend's games mark the Summit League opener for both teams and the home opener for Western Illinois... the Leathernecks are 72-25 in league play in five seasons under Holly Van Vlymen... Western Illinois has won three of the past four Regular Season titles and was the 2008 Summit League Tournament Champion... the Leathernecks are a combined 40-4 in league play in the past two seasons... during Van Vlymen's tenure, Western has compiled an overall record of 129-127-1 and has won 34 or more games in each of the past two seasons... the Leathernecks have compiled a home record of 48-30 over the past five seasons.

CAMPBELL EARNS WEEKLY HONORS: Western Illinois junior Ashley Campbell had a fantastic weekend at the Tiger Invitational... she went 2-0 with a 0.43 ERA in three appearances two weeks ago... Campbell allowed just two runs (one earned) in 16.1 innings of work while recording 10 strikeouts and issuing six walks... her performance earned her Summit League "Pitcher of the Week" honors for the first time in her career... she pitched a total of 15.1 scoreless innings in three games including two starts and one relief appearance.

FIGHTING LEATHERNECKS ON THE AIR: Western Illinois softball games can be heard live on the Internet (www.GoLeathernecks.com) via the Leatherneck Sports Network by clicking on the link for each game on the softball schedule/results page... radio broadcasts for the games at Ohio, UMKC and Southern Utah will not take place due to no phone lines at those facilities.

KEEPING THE DYNASTY ALIVE: The Leathernecks enter the 2011 campaign looking to continue their recent dominance in The Summit League... Western Illinois has won three of the past four regular-season conference championships (2007, 2009 and 2010)... the Leathernecks won the league tournament in 2008 and advanced to the NCAA Tournament, where they defeated Drake for the team's first-ever NCAA Tournament win... Western Illinois is 72-25 in The Summit League in five seasons under Holly Van Vlymen... she has been named as the league's "Coach of the Year" three times during her tenure with the Leathernecks... under her guidance, Western Illinois had the league's Pitcher and Freshman of the Year in 2007 and 2009 and has had 26 players named as All-League selections.

LEATHERNECKS PICKED 3rd IN PRESEASON POLL: Despite their recent dominance of The Summit League, the Leathernecks were picked to finish third in the preseason poll... Western Illinois finished with 49 points behind co-favorites North Dakota State (60) and IPFW (60)... the Bison have won the past two Summit League Tournament Titles and received five first-place votes while the Mastodons received four... Western Illinois has finished no lower than third in the preseason poll in five years under Van Vlymen.

EXTRA BASES: Western Illinois hitters combined for 108 multiple-hit games last season... Jamie Goss recorded 19 games with two or more hits while Beth Golitko (17), Jamie Goss (16), Colleen Biebel (15) and Lauren Furgala (10) each had 10 or more multi-hit games... Biebel recorded a team-leading four games with three or more hits while Golitko had a season-best four hits against IPFW on April 24... the team also combined for 38 multi-RBI games from individual players... Goss and Golitko recorded two or more RBI on seven occasions... Goss twice had four RBI while Ashley Campbell had a team-best five RBI against Tennessee Tech on Feb. 20... three players had hitting streaks of 10 or more games... Erin Shlotfeldt carries an active three-game hitting streak into this season... Jamie Goss is the only returner who played in all 54 games last year... Nikki Marinec played in 53 games... the Leathernecks set a season-high with 59 at-bats during a 14-inning game at Miami (OH) on March 16... Western returns four players who have career-batting averages of .300 or better... those players are Jamie Goss (.334), Beth Golitko (.326), Colleen Biebel (.315) and Ashley Campbell (.311)... the Leathernecks' longest winning-streak in 2010 was six games on two different occasions... the team's longest losing-streak was three games from March 31-April 2.

RECORD WATCH: Colleen Biebel and Michelle Prieto are both in position to move up in the Leatherneck record book this season... Biebel has moved in to sole possession of 10th place on the career stolen base list with 32 swipes after stealing a base against Campbell on Feb. 20... Prieto sits just outside the top-10 with 31 career-stolen bases.

SPRING BREAK 2011: Western Illinois will head to the sunny Southwest for Spring Break... the team will face Arizona State in a doubleheader on March 15... the Sun Devils are currently ranked No. 7 in each of the major national polls... the Leathernecks will play a single game at UNLV on March 16 before resuming Summit League play at Southern Utah from March 18-19.