MOUNT ST. MARY'S (1-9) at George Washington (3-10)
Saturday, March 9, 1:00 p.m. and 3:15 p.m.
GW Softball Field, Washington, D.C.
MOUNT ST. MARY'S (1-9) vs. Princeton (3-2)
Sunday, March 10, 8:30 a.m.
UMBC Softball Stadium
LIVE STATS
MOUNT ST. MARY'S (1-9) vs. Howard (2-9)
Sunday, March 10, 10:45 a.m.
UMBC Softball Stadium
LIVE STATS
MOUNT UPDATE: The Mount St. Mary's softball team opened the season with 10-straight games in Florida. Beginning with the University of Jacksonville Tournament, the Mount went 0-3 before dropping both games in a doubleheader at North Florida on Feb. 27th. The Mountaineers opened March with a 1-5 showing at the University of Florida Tournament that included a 3-1 win over Florida A&M.
ABOUT GEORGE WASHINGTON: The Colonials (3-10) kicked off their season at Campbell, going 1-2 with a win over Seton Hall. GW then headed to USC Upstate and dropped three games before going 1-1 at a tournament at the University of North Carolina. Playing their last five games a home, the Colonials went 1-4 with all four losses by one run. Carlee Gray paces the Colonials' offense with 13 hits and a .351 batting average. Pitchers Courtney Martin and Meghan Rico have posted 1.96 and 3.15 ERAs, respectively.
ABOUT PRINCETON: Princeton (3-2) finished as the runner-up in the North Florida Osprey Invitational by beating Delaware State twice, St. Bonaventure once and falling to North Florida twice. Shortstop Alyssa Schmidt enters the weekend hitting .526 with team highs for hits (10) and doubles (3). In a 3-0 win over Delaware State on March 2nd, Shanna Christian tossed a complete-game shutout, allowing one hit and three walks while striking out five.
ABOUT HOWARD: The Bison (2-9) are looking to snap a six-game losing streak this weekend. Howard beat Benedict and Winston-Salem in an opening tournament in early February, but has struggled ever since. On their current six-game skid, the Bison have been outscored 70-17.
ALL-TIME SERIES: The Mount holds a 7-6 all-time series lead over George Washington. From 2008-2010, the Mount went 5-1 against the Colonials, but dropped a pair of games against GW last season. The Mountaineers have faced Princeton just twice, with both meetings occurring in 2010. The Mount went 1-1 in the two games against the Tigers. The Mount holds a 2-1 all-time lead against Howard, with all three games being played in 2009.
PITCHING: The Mount has used three pitchers this season. Nicole Pagano has six starts to her name, while Hayley Stankan started three and Danielle Cummings has started one. In an 8-2 loss against No. 4 Florida, Pagano struck out a career-high 14 batters. Cummings leads the Mount with a 3.82 ERA in 18.1 innings of work.
CAT CLIFFORD: Through 10 games, Cat Clifford leads the team in hits (9), home runs (4), total bases (21) and RBIs (6). Clifford's four home runs already ties her for fifth-most in Mount history among juniors. She has now compiled 11 for her career, which is good for sixth all time in school history.
ON THE MOVE: The Mount has stolen five bases in each of the past two games. The team stole a combined six bases in the previous eight games. Rachel Gavigan leads the team by swiping four bags, while Megan Baker, Kendra Hayward and Marisa Mayes have stolen three apiece.
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 travel to UMBC on Wednesday, March 12th, for a 2 p.m. start at the UMBC Softball Stadium.
