MOUNT ST. MARY'S (9-18, 2-4 NEC) at TOWSON (16-21-1, 0-6 CAA)
Thursday, April 4, 2013, 3:00 p.m.
Tiger Softball Complex, Towson, Md.
LIVE STATS
MOUNT UPDATE: Mount St. Mary's fell in two games at Robert Morris on March 29 before returning home to split a doubleheader with Canisius on March 30. In the Mount's 10th inning victory against Canisius to end the weekend, Liz Christiansen broke the Mount's career RBI record with a walk-off single for her 103rd RBI. Kendra Hayward recorded the first multi-hit game of her career in game two against Robert Morris and leads her team with five hits in the last four games.
ABOUT TOWSON: The Tigers snapped a seven-game losing streak with Tuesday's 10-0 win over George Washington in five innings. Despite a sub-.500 overall record, Towson has put together an 8-6-1 record at the Tiger Softball Complex. Towson has racked up 17 home runs on the season, including four apiece from Caitie Barber and Bina Abbott. Of the Tigers' three pitchers, Katie Lingmai has the most strikeouts (122) and complete games (11) to go with a team-low 3.81 ERA.
LAST TIME WE MET: The Mount dropped both games of a home twinbill with Towson on April 25, 2012. After falling by a 3-0 score in game one, the Mountaineers began game two with three first-inning runs. Towson quickly answered with six runs the following inning en route to an 8-4 win.
ALL-TIME RECORD: Towson holds a 34-6-1 advantage in the series, which dates back to 1985. The Mount has dropped eight in a row to the Tigers with their last win coming in 2007 at home. The Mount's last win at Towson was in 1987.
RBI LEADER: Liz Christiansen recorded her 103rd career run batted in during game two against Canisius on March 30 to pass Amanda Burk for the most in school history.
30-WIN CLUB: Nicole Pagano's complete game four-hitter in game one against FDU on March 24 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: Liz Christiansen, who already holds the Mount's career home run and RBI records, ranks in the top 10 in other career offensive categories including third in total bases (231) and walks (59), fifth in doubles (27) and tied for eighth in hits (130). Other Mount players in the top 10 are Erin Leddy in seventh for walks (53)and seventh for runs (72) and Cat Clifford is fifth for home runs (13). From the circle, Nicole Pagano checks in at fourth for wins (31) and third for strikeouts (380).
ON THE MOVE: Holly Buckel and Rachel Gavigan are tied for the team lead with eight stolen bases this season. As a team, the Mount ranks 89th nationally with a 1.15 stolen bases per game average.
HITTING STREAKS: Erin Leddy and Cat Clifford both had six-game hitting streaks this season, which are the longest on the team. Liz Christiansen has reached base safely in five games in a row. The longest such streak by a Mount player this season is eight 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 27 games, while Hayward has 20 starts to her name, and Baker has started 24 games without an error. Junior Bre Lohman has also made nine starts in right field with zero errors.
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 41-83 overall record, including 15-31 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 14-24 record at home at Our Lady of the Meadows Field. The Mountaineers are 4-4 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 finished the season as the Mount's all-time leader with 24 career home runs and was 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, 2012 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 play a pair of Northeast Conference doubleheaders this weekend. On Saturday, April 6, the Mountaineers will face Wagner in Staten Island, N.Y. beginning at 1:00 p.m. The following day, the Mount will continue north to Hamden, Conn. for a doubleheader against Quinnipiac beginning at noon.
