MOUNT ST. MARY'S (2-12) at UMBC (5-14)
Wednesday, March 13, 3:45 p.m.
UMBC Softball Stadium, Baltimore, Md. 

LIVE STATS

MOUNT UPDATE: The Mount picked up its second win of the season on March 10 with an 8-0 victory over Howard at the UMBC Dawg Pound Invitational. In the victory, pitchers Nicole Pagano and Hayley Stankan combined to toss a no-hitter. Stankan got the start, going two innings, before Pagano finished the final four innings with nine strikeouts. Freshman Rachel Gavigan provided the offensive punch with a grand slam to cap off a career-best 3-3 performance at the plate. 

ABOUT UMBC: The Retrievers went 1-3 in their tournament, the UMBC Retriever Classic, with a win over Howard, 3-2, and losses to Princeton, Marist and Rhode Island. Taylor Hall holds a team-best .389 batting average with 21 hits and five home runs. Heather Brown and Rachel Ionata have pitched 32.2 innings apiece, with Brown leading the team with a 2.36 ERA, while allowing just three extra-base hits. 

ALL-TIME SERIES: UMBC leads the all-time series, 7-23. Dating back to 1991, UMBC won 23 of the first 26 meetings. The Mount has been able to reverse its fortune, however, by winning four games in a row against the Retrievers.

LAST TIME WE MET: The Mountaineers pounded 14 hits in an 11-0 rout of the Retrievers on March 10, 2012. Nicole Pagano threw a no-hitter with six strikeouts as Liz Christiansen had two home runs to pace the Mount. With the offensive output including another home run in the first game of the day against Siena, Christiansen tied the Mount's career home run mark of 18. She went on to break the school record the following day in a 6-2 win over Niagara. 

SOLID LAST OUTING: The Mount is coming off its highest offensive output with a season-high eight runs against Howard. With seven hits in the game, the Mount tied its mark for the second-most hits so far this season. The March 10 win was also the first time that no Mountaineer has struck out since March 2, 2011 against George Mason. 

CAT CLIFFORD: Through 14 games, Cat Clifford leads the team in hits (11), home runs (5), total bases (26) and is tied for the team lead in RBIs (6). Clifford's five home runs already ties her for fourth-most in Mount history among juniors. She has now compiled 12 for her career, which is good for sixth all-time in school history. 

VERSUS MARYLAND TEAMS: The Mount has gone 68-108-1 all-time against teams from the state of Maryland. For the Mount, 22 wins against Coppin State are the most against any in-state opponent. 

HEAD COACH ANNA NAGRO: Anna Nagro is the eighth coach in school history. She has compiled a 34-77 overall record, including 13-32 in the NEC. Last season's eight wins in NEC play tied for the third most in the Mount's single-season history.  

2012 ALL-CONFERENCE SELECTIONS:  Liz Christiansen and Nicole Pagano each garnered All-Northeast Conference honors last year.  Christiansen was First Team All-NEC after leading the Mount in average (.320), hits (47), doubles (9), home runs (9), RBIs (34) and total bases (83).  She hit .355 in NEC play with five home runs and 15 RBI.  She is the Mount's all-time leader with 24 career home runs and is second with 96 RBIs.  Pagano was a Second Team All-NEC selection at the pitcher spot.  Pagano went 11-11 with a 1.47 ERA and 147 strikeouts in 151.0 innings of work. She had a perfect game on March 16 against Rhode Island while adding her second no-hitter of the year against UMBC. 

PRESEASON PICKS:  The Mount was picked to finish ninth in the annual Northeast Conference preseason coaches poll.  Robert Morris was tabbed as the favorite with six first-place votes, followed by defending tournament champion LIU Brooklyn, who was picked second with five first-place votes.  Central Connecticut was picked third, while Monmouth and Bryant round out the top five. Quinnipiac was voted sixth, followed by Sacred Heart, Saint Francis U, Mount St. Mary's, Wagner and Fairleigh Dickinson.

UP NEXT: The Mount will continue non-conference action with the Delaware State Hornet Invite this weekend. During the two-day tournament, the Mountaineers will take on St. Bonaventure and Delaware State on Saturday, March 16, and Niagara on Sunday, March 17.