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FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – The Nova Southeastern University softball team, winners of three of their last five games, begins a stretch of nine straight away from home on Tuesday, with their series opener at Barry beginning at 6 p.m. in Miami Shores.
 
The Sharks (14-17, 2-10 SSC) used steady pitching and clutch hitting to upend Lynn in this weekend's series finale, 2-1. Each of their next three opponents will be Sunshine State Conference squads on the road in three-game sets, starting with Barry (24-9, 8-4 SSC).
 
The Bucs are tied for first in the conference standings and received votes in the latest NFCA Top 25 poll, but have lost four of their last six games. That dropped them into this current tie with the two teams to each take 2-of-3 from them over that span: Tampa on March 21-22 and Rollins most recently, March 28-29.
 
Barry has two hitters at .400 or above: Megan Copeland (.409) and Dee Espinosa (.400). Espinosa leads the team in all power categories: doubles (17), home runs (7), RBI (36) and slugging (.504), while Copeland has team bests of 30 runs scored, 47 hits and 20 stolen bases. As a team, Bucs pitchers have an ERA of 2.54, with all three hurlers under 3.00.
 
For the Sharks, leadoff hitter Lorena Spaulding (Sr., Pembroke Pines, Fla.) is now the league's leading hitter at .494. She is also third among all hitters in on-base percentage, reaching safely over half the time (.505). Katrina Ammons (Sr., Jacksonville, Fla.) is fourth in OBP (.490) and in the top 10 in both slugging (.598) and average (.390).
 
Starting pitcher Rebecca Thornton (So., Lodi, Calif.) picked up her 11th victory of the year in the finale against Lynn, giving up just an unearned run on five hits. Those are 11 of the team's 14 wins, and she had a sparkling season earned run average of 2.22.
 
Game one of the three-game series will be at 6 p.m. Tuesday, and the set wraps up with a Wednesday doubleheader beginning at 5.