BIRMINGHAM, ALA. – Behind a strong offensive performance from freshman Lily Bell, as well as a potent bat and solid work in the circle from junior Tessa Juett, the Western Carolina softball team opened Saturday's doubleheader with a 3-1 win over Samford at the Samford Softball Field. The Bulldogs bounced back in the finale with an 8-6 win to split the twin bill. 

WCU's offense was led by Bell, who posted a pair of multi-hit games in going 5-for-8 (.625) on Saturday and scoring three runs. She also swiped three bases to increase her seasonal total to 28 and her hit total to second place in the SoCon at 59. Bell has a team-high 18 multi-hit games, seven of which took place in conference play. 

Freshman Maya McPherson and senior Jeralynn Wells both had hits in both ends of Saturday's doubleheader, pushing their conference hit streaks to 11 and 10, respectively. Wells tallied two RBIs in game two as part of the offensive attack. Wells has reached base safely in 12 straight SoCon games, and McPherson has reached in 11 consecutive contests. 

Juett got the ball in Saturday's opener and posted her 14th complete game of the season with five strikeouts and one run allowed in a 3-1 win. She did it with the bat in that same contest, posting a 3-for-3 stat line at the plate, finishing a triple shy of the cycle, totaling her fourth homer of the season in the win. Juett became the sixth pitcher in program history to eclipse 300 career strikeouts with her third punchout in the victory. 

Game One – Western Carolina 3, Samford 1 
Junior Tessa Juett homered in the second inning and senior Savannah Baldwin followed up with an RBI double an inning later to lead the Catamounts. Juett and Baldwin's offense was enough for the Berea, Ky. native in the circle as WCU claimed a 3-1 win in game one from Birmingham. 

Lily Bell wasted little time in the opening inning, reaching on a Samford error and swiping her 26th base of the year. However, she was stranded on the basepaths as the Bulldogs grabbed three straight outs. Game one starter Tessa Juett started quickly, with a 1-2-3 frame, including her first strikeout of the contest. 

The Catamounts struck first in the second inning as Juett did it with the bat connecting on a solo blast over the right field wall to give WCU the 1-0 lead. 

Juett continued her control of the Bulldogs' bats in the second, working around a leadoff single with a strikeout and a flyout, which turned into a double play, to face the minimum through two innings. 

In the third, following a base knock and stolen base from Bell, the Catamounts doubled their advantage with an RBI double from Baldwin, who connected on her 10th two-bagger of the season to make it 2-0. Juett worked around a pair of runners in scoring position with back-to-back strikeouts to keep the lead at 2. 

Juett picked up her second base hit of the game and swiped her first base of her Catamount career but was stranded in the top half of the fourth inning. She returned to the circle in the fourth, working around a pair of free passes, and racked up her fifth strikeout to keep Samford off the scoreboard. 

Kennedy Stewman opened the fifth with a ground-rule double, but the Bulldogs kept the Catamounts off the scoreboard by sitting the next three batters down in order. Juett made quick work of the hosts in the fifth, needing just seven pitches to keep WCU in front in the later stages of game one. 

Jeralynn Wells and Juett both reached base with a single, followed by a double from WCU's pitcher. A pair of outs kept the margin at two. Juett worked around a one-out single without harm, sending the opener to the final inning. 

Maya McPherson tallied a one-out RBI single in the top half of the frame to extend the lead to 3-0 before a solo blast from Samford with one out in the bottom half cut the lead to two before Juett got a pair of flyouts to close out the frame and give WCU the 3-1 win in game one. 

Juett (12-13) went the distance for the 14th time on Saturday afternoon, allowing one run on four hits with five strikeouts. The Berea, Ky. native became the sixth pitcher in program history to eclipse 300 career strikeouts in the victory. 

Jordyn Partain (9-14) matched Juett as she went the distance for Samford, allowing three runs on ten hits with six strikeouts. Partain allowed just one free pass in the game, one defeat for the Bulldogs pitcher. 

Game Two – Samford 8, Western Carolina 6
After a five-run top half of the fifth led game two to a tie score, Samford pushed across a pair of runs a half inning later and held off the Catamounts for the 8-6 win in game two to split the doubleheader. 

Lily Bell opened game two just like the first contest with a base hit followed by another stolen base, but the Bulldogs kept WCU off the scoreboard in the top half of the first. 

Samford (18-28, 10-7 SoCon) wasted little time in game two, connecting on three straight singles to push across the first run before an RBI groundout gave the hosts a 2-0 lead after one. 

Tessa Juett reached base via a two-out error from the hosts, but the Bulldogs quickly sat down the Catamounts before WCU reliever Makenzie Martin erased Samford 1-2-3 in the home half of the frame. 

The Bulldogs worked a 1-2-3 top half of the inning before increasing their lead in the home half of the frame with four runs, capped by a three-run blast, to make it 6-0 after three innings. 

Savannah Baldwin opened the fourth with a double before a Maya McPherson single put two on. Following a Bulldogs out, Jeralynn Wells scored an RBI on a fielder's choice to make it 6-1 after 3.5 frames. 

Martin adds a strikeout in the fourth and works around a two-out hit-by-pitch without harm to keep the deficit at five. 

The Catamounts bats got red hot in the fifth as three pitches led to a Mattie Mentel single followed by a Becka Wonsick double, which was capped by a two-run double from Kennedy Stewman. Maya McPherson added a sacrifice fly to plate a run before an RBI double from Sydney Dirks was quickly followed by a Wells RBI single to tie the game at six.

Samford responded with a pair of runs on an RBI single and followed up with a sacrifice fly to take an 8-6 lead to the sixth inning. 

Western Carolina (15-30, 6-11 SoCon) sent the minimum to the plate in the top half of the sixth, and Martin worked around a pair of baserunners with three strikeouts to send game two to the seventh inning. 

Bell tallied her fifth hit of the afternoon in the seventh, but the Bulldogs kept the Catamounts off the scoreboard in the final half-inning to secure the 8-6 win and split the twin bill from Birmingham. 

Taylor Norton started in game two, going 1.0 innings, allowing a pair of runs on three hits and totaling a walk, but didn't factor into the decision. Martin (0-12) pitched the final 5.0 innings, allowing six runs on nine hits with five strikeouts. Martin's five strikeouts match a season-high for the Seneca, S.C. native. 

Makenzie Newcomb (5-3) went the distance for the Bulldogs, allowing six runs on ten hits and totaling eight strikeouts to earn her fifth win of the campaign. 

The Catamounts conclude their regular season road slate on Sunday, April 28, at 2 p.m. EST/ 1 p.m. CST with their series finale against Samford from the Samford Softball Field. The series finale will have coverage through live stats available at CatamountSports.com and will be shown on ESPN+ (paid subscription required). 

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