SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – The Drury University softball team is home on Saturday and faces the first place team in the Great Lakes Valley Conference as Rockhurst visits Thompson Field for a doubleheader starting at noon.
 
The Panthers are 17-18 and 5-7 in the GLVC. Drury is in 13^th place in the league standings but they are just two games behind fourth place Missouri-St. Louis (25-11, 7-5) in the tightly packed conference race. Rockhurst is 20-16 and 9-3 in the GLVC. The Hawks are in first place with a percentage-points lead over Southern Indiana (31-7, 10-4) and Indianapolis (29-9, 10-4).
 
Drury will start Jessica Kjeldgaard at pitcher in one of the games on Saturday. Kjeldgaard set a Panthers record in all-time wins last week and has 40 career victories entering Saturday's game. The senior from Council Bluffs, Iowa is 9-10 with a 3.22 earned run average. She is coming off of a shutout win over Quincy last Sunday when she went 7 innings allowing 7 hits, no runs and two walks with one strikeout. Destiny Bolen is projected to start in the other game on Saturday. She is 8-8 with a 4.45 ERA and coming off of a 2-1 loss to Quincy last Sunday.
 
The Panthers are led at the plate by Kelley Conway with a .381 average. She has a home run and 14 runs batted in. Dominque Salinas is hitting .366 with three homers and 17 RBI's. Kaelie Smith leads Drury in RBI's with 27. Smith is batting .352 with one home run.
 
Rockhurst will bring the reigning conference and national Pitcher of the Week in Bridgette Sappington to Springfield on Saturday. Sappington is coming off of a week when she allowed no hits and no runs while striking out 12 in 12 innings of work and three appearances. She fired a perfect game on March 31 in a 3-0 win over Maryville.
 
Madison Wagner leads the Hawks at the plate hitting .340 with no home runs and four RBI's. Lauren Marks has driven in 24 runs to lead the team in RBI's. She has a .282 average with four home runs.
 
Drury will wear pink jerseys on Saturday to honor Indianapolis head coach Melissa Frost, who was diagnosed with breast cancer last November. 43 softball programs from 16 states and 14 conferences will wear pink on Saturday with the slogan "Faith.Fight.Frost" to support the head coach who is in her 13^th season leading the UIndy program.
 
Saturday's doubleheader will be broadcast live on the internet on the GLVCSN.
 
Following Saturday's doubleheader, the Panthers travel to William Jewell for a noon doubleheader on Sunday.
 
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