LOS ANGELES, Calif., -- The Loyola Marymount softball team (28-16, 4-2 WCC) will play its first conference road match of the season this week, as the team will play Santa Clara in a three-game series on Friday and Saturday. 
 
The Lions will head into this weekend's matchup coming off of a 3-2 win over New Mexico State, and a 3-0 sweep over San Diego, which included two shutouts. 
 
The Lions have the second-best conference record, right behind BYU. LMU still leads the conference in pitching, and continues to be the only West Coast Conference team with under a 3.00 earned run average, as the Lions have 2.36. The Lions lead in team ERA as well as indivudial ERA, as Hannah Bandimere has a 1.91 across 117 innings pitched, while the WCC Pitcher of the Week, Samantha Manti has a 2.17 across 103 innings. 
 
Molly Grumbo and Andrea Gonzalez are conference leaders in batting average, as Grumbo has .331 overall and .529 in conference play with nine total conference hits, while Gonzalez has .323, overall and .412 in conference play with seven total conference hits. Megan Dedrick is a leader in conference batting average with .429. LMU is second overall in batting average, with .297.
 
LMU will play a double-header on Friday, with the first game against the Broncos starting at 4:00 p.m., and the second starting at 6:00 p.m. The Lions will pick back up play on Saturday at noon to close out the series.