MOUNT ST. MARY'S (7-14) vs. LAFAYETTE (4-11)
Wednesday, March 27, 2013, 3:00 p.m. (DH)
Our Lady of the Meadows Field, Emmitsburg, Md.
LIVE STATS
MOUNT UPDATE: Mount St. Mary's kicked off Northeast Conference play by splitting home doubleheaders with Bryant and Fairleigh Dickinson at Our Lady of the Meadows Field. The Mount won the opening game against Bryant on Saturday, 1-0, then fell in game two, 10-3. The following day, the Mountaineers were victorious, 3-1, in the series opener with FDU and dropped the second game, 11-2. Nicole Pagano pitched three times over the weekend, tossing two complete games to earn both wins for the Mount. Pagano struck out 23 hitters in 19.2 innings of work and became the fourth player in school history with 30 or more career wins.
ABOUT LAFAYETTE: The Leopards began the season 2-2 but have since dropped nine of their last 11 games for a 4-11 record. Over the weekend at a tournament at Delaware State, Lafayette beat the host Hornets and fell to Brown twice and Princeton once. Melissa Robinson has been the team's top pitcher with a 4.47 ERA and three of the team's four wins from the circle. At the plate, Madeline Allen, who has a team-best .333 batting average, is the lone Leopard with double-digit hits with 10.
ALL-TIME SERIES: Wednesday's doubleheader will be the first-ever meeting between the two schools.
30-WIN CLUB: Nicole Pagano's complete game four hitter in game one against FDU on Sunday was her 30th career win. She joins elite company as Zena Edwards, Jamie Fowler and Maria Lutz are the only other players to accomplish the feat in their Mount careers. Edwards holds the school record with 46 career victories.
RECORD BOOKS: Senior Liz Christiansen, who already holds the Mount's career home run record, has 101 career RBIs, which is one away from tying Amanda Burk for the most in program history. Christiansen ranks in the top 10 in other career offensive categories including third in total bases (227), fifth in doubles (27) and walks (55) and ninth in hits (126). Other current Mount players in the top 10 are Erin Leddy in sixth for walks (51) and ninth for runs (70) and Cat Clifford in fifth for home runs (13). From the circle, Nicole Pagano checks in at fourth for wins (30) and third for strikeouts (370).
STEADY CHRISTIANSEN: Christiansen has a three-game hitting streak entering Wednesday's games. She has also reached base safely in seven games in a row, which is the longest active streak on the team. The longest stretch of reaching base safely by a Mount St. Mary's player this season was eight set by Holly Buckel.
DEFENSIVELY SOUND: The Mount's starting outfield of senior Erin Leddy in center, sophomore Kendra Hayward in right and freshman Megan Baker in left has yet to commit an error this season. Leddy has started all 21 games, while Hayward has 16 starts to her name, and Baker has started 18 games without an error.
FIVE-GAME WINNING STREAK: The Mount's five-game winning streak, which was snapped against Bryant on Saturday, March 23, was the second-longest winning streak in the program's Division I history. The longest in team history was 21 games in 1987 and the six-game run in 2006 was the team's longest since joining Division I in 1988-89.
HEAD COACH ANNA NAGRO: Anna Nagro is the eighth head coach in Mount St. Mary's softball history. She has compiled a 39-79 overall record, including 15-29 in the NEC. Last season's eight wins in NEC play tied for the third most in the Mount's single-season history.
OUR LADY OF THE MEADOWS FIELD: During Nagro's tenure, the Mount holds a 12-22 record at home at Our Lady of the Meadows Field. The Mountaineers are 2-2 at home this season after a 3-9 record last season and a 7-11 mark in 2011.
2012 ALL-CONFERENCE: 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 returns to Northeast Conference play with a road doubleheader at Robert Morris on Friday, March 29, beginning at noon. The following day, the Mountaineers will return home to Our Lady of the Meadows Field on Saturday, March 30, to take on Canisius in a non-conference doubleheader at noon.
