MOUNT ST. MARY'S (12-14, 4-2 NEC) vs. CENTRAL CONNECTICUT (3-24, 1-5 NEC)
Saturday, April 2, 2022 | 1 p.m. (DH)
Sunday, April 3, 2022 | 12 p.m.
Emmitsburg, Md. | Our Lady of the Meadows Field

LIVE STATS | WATCH

Mount St. Mary's welcomes Central Connecticut to Our Lady of the Meadows Field for a three-game Northeast Conference series this weekend.

MOUNT UPDATE:  Mount St. Mary's has won five in a row after a doubleheader sweep at Coppin State on Tuesday.  That followed the Mount's three-game sweep against Wagner last weekend.  Vanessa Martin leads the Mount with a .296 average while Abigayle Perry is hitting .271 while leading the team in runs scored (16), doubles (5), triples (2), home runs (5), RBI (19), slugging percentage (.614) and on-base percentage (.433).  Olivia Murphy (4-2, 2.95 ERA) and Amanda Berkley (5-5, 3.16 ERA) have paced the pitching staff.

ABOUT CENTRAL CONNECTICUT:  Central Connecticut lost a high-scoring game against Quinnipiac, 10-7, on Wednesday to fall to 3-24 on the season.  The Blue Devils were swept by Saint Francis U last weekend and are 1-5 in NEC play.  Kim Howard leads CCSU with a .300 average with Paige Stringer hitting .276 with 14 runs scored and four home runs.  Bri Walker leads the team with 18 RBI.  Kaylee Whittaker (1-7, 6.40 ERA) and Ashley Antonazzo (1-7, 6.69 ERA) have been the top two pitchers so far this year.

THE ALL-TIME SERIES WITH CENTRAL CONNECTICUT :  Central Connecticut swept last year's four-game series in New Britain, Conn., to take a 28-18 lead in the all-time series with the Mount.  The Mount is 11-9 all-time at home against the Blue Devils, including a doubleheader sweep the lat time they met in Emmitsburg on April 27, 2019.  CCSU has won 14 of the 18 meetings between the two teams since 2013.

PERRY WINS NEC WEEKLY HONOR:  Mount St. Mary's sophomore Abigayle Perry was been named the Northeast Conference Softball Player of the Week on Tuesday.  Perry was the catalyst for the Mount in a three-game sweep of Wagner over the weekend, hitting .462 with two doubles, a triple, a home run, two steals and seven RBI in the three games.  She opened the series by going 4-for-4 with a double, a triple, two steals and two RBI in the Mount's 5-1 win.  Her three-run home run in the bottom of the seventh in game two sparked the Mount's rally from a 4-0 deficit that saw the Mountaineers win in extra innings.  She went 1-for-4 with an RBI double in the Mount's 5-2 win in the final game.  For the week, she was 7-for-13 at the plate with a 1.000 slugging percentage.

ON THE BASE PATHS:  Bridgette Gilliano leads the Mount and the Northeast Conference with 20 stolen bases this season.  She is currently 10th in the nation with 0.77 steals per game.  Her 20 steals are the second most in a season in program history, just one steal shy of matching Nikki Wisniewski's record of 21 set during the 1999 season.  A sophomore, Gilliano now has 31 career steals as a Mountaineer, moving her into a tied for eighth place on the Mount's career steals list.  Patti Schaefer (1983-86) holds the career mark with 67.

TURNING TWO:  The Mount is currently ninth in the nation in double plays turned per game this season with 0.54 per game.  The Mountaineers have been one of the top teams in the nation over the past five years in turning two, ranking 22^nd last year (0.45 double plays/game) and leading the nation with 0.84 double plays per game in 2017-18. 

HOME SWEET HOME:  The Mount has its next five games at home with the three-game series against Central Connecticut (April 2-3) and a doubleheader against Morgan State on April 6.  The Mount is 6-1 at home this season and is 31-16 at Our Lady of the Meadows Field since 2019.

THIS AND THAT:  Olivia Murphy has walked just four batters in 40.1 innings of work her freshman season…Murphy is currently 12^th in the nation with 0.69 walks per seven innings pitched…Abigayle Perry has reached base in 13 consecutive games while Kaia Bonshock is on a current 10-game streak…Murphy is 4-1 with a 1.58 ERA over the Mount's past 17 games…The Mount is 10-5 over the past 15 games, posting a team ERA of 2.45 while holding opponents to a .223 average…Perry is hitting .326 with five doubles, two triples, four home runs, 17 RBI and a .814 slugging percentage over the past 15 games…The Mountaineers are 11-3 this season when scoring three or more runs in a game.

UP NEXT:  The Mount visits Coppin State for a doubleheader on Tuesday, March 29, before hosting Central Connecticut for a three-game series on April 1-2 at Our Lady of the Meadows Field.