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Schedule

Full
Team Huddle at River City Leadoff
North Florida Athletics
0
Western Carolina WCU 0-1
8
Winner Jacksonville JU 1-0
Western Carolina WCU
0-1
0
Final
8
Jacksonville JU
1-0
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 R H E
Western Carolina WCU 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 2
Jacksonville JU 1 0 4 0 1 2 8 11 1

W: WAGGONER,Sky (1-0) L: Juett, Tessa (0-1)

2
Western Carolina WCU 0-2
3
Winner North Florida UNF 1-0
Western Carolina WCU
0-2
2
Final
3
North Florida UNF
1-0
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R H E
Western Carolina WCU 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 2 6 0
North Florida UNF 0 0 2 0 0 0 1 3 4 1

W: PONICH, C. (1-0) L: Batson, AG (0-1)

Game Recap: Softball | | Greg Hartlage, Director of Media Relations

Catamounts Drop Opening Day Doubleheader in Jacksonville

JACKSONVILLE, FLA. – Western Carolina softball opened the 2025 season on Friday, suffering a pair of defeats to Jacksonville and the host North Florida on the opening day of the River City Leadoff, on the campus of the Ospreys. The Dolphins claimed an 8-0 win in six innings before the hosts earned the 3-2 walk-off win on Friday night from the UNF Softball Complex.  
 
Sophomore Sydney Dirks led the Catamounts at the plate, tallying a pair of hits in the matchup against UNF, while sophomore Becka Wonsick added a two-run triple in the same matchup for WCU. Freshman Courtney Marks, sophomore Lily Bell, freshman AG Batson, and junior Rylee Butler got into the hit column on Friday.
 
Marks, Batson, Butler, graduate student Imara Harrell, and sophomore Riley Pennington made their Catamount debuts throughout Friday's twin bill.
 
Game One – Jacksonville 8, Western Carolina 0 (6 Innings)
Jacksonville used a four-run third inning to create the separation it needed as the Dolphins claimed an 8-0 season-opening win over the Catamounts at the River City Leadoff in Florida.
 
The Catamounts were limited to a pair of base runners on a Courtney Marks single and a walk by Lily Bell in the first inning. Both managed to reach and steal a base to move into scoring position before being stranded in one of WCU's best opportunities in the opening tilt. 
 
Jacksonville struck first with a two-out RBI double that allowed the Dolphins to inch in front by a run in the home half of the first. Tessa Juett picked up her first strikeout of the season, finishing with four over the three-inning effort.
 
After the Dolphins retired WCU 1-2-3 in the second, Juett settled in and picked up two more strikeouts to keep the Dolphins advantage at one run after two frames. The Dolphins, though, put together a four-run third capped by a three-run homer to allow the lead to swell to five runs after three innings.
 
Jacksonville pitching continued to stymie the Catamount bats with another 1-2-3 frame in the fourth. Catamount reliever Makenzie Martin worked around a pair of baserunners without harm to keep the score at 5-0 in tossing the home portion of the fourth.
 
The Dolphins increased their lead to six with a bases-loaded walk to pull ahead 6-0 through five complete.
 
In the sixth, Marks reached base on a two-out error to dot the base paths for a second time, but she was stranded to keep the Catamount off the scoreboard. Jacksonville then took advantage of a WCU error and plated a pair of runs to finish off the 8-0 win in six innings.
 
Juett (0-1) was saddled with the loss on Friday afternoon, allowing five runs on six hits. The Berea, Ky., native tallied four strikeouts in her debut to move into a tie for fourth in the career record book for Ks, matching Courtney Buchanan (2014-17) at 325. Martin pitched two frames, allowing four hits, one run, and adding a strikeout.
Presbyterian transfer Riley Pennington made her WCU debut, facing three batters but not recording an out in the loss.
 
Skylar Waggoner (1-0) went the distance for the Dolphins, allowing one hit and one walk while striking out five Catamounts.
 
Game Two – North Florida 3, Western Carolina 2 
North Florida cashed-in a lead-off double with a sacrifice fly in the bottom half of the seventh inning on Friday afternoon to outlast Western Carolina 3-2 in the second game of the season-opening tournament for the Catamounts. The game-winning run capped an afternoon that saw both teams post two-run frames in a competitive matchup.

Both pitching staffs kept the scoreboard clean in the opening two frames on Friday evening before Sydney Dirks tallied a leadoff knock in the third to get the Catamounts offense moving. After an error allowed Tate Stewman to reach base and Dirks to slide to third, UNF erased the threat with three straight putouts to keep the scoreboard scoreless.

North Florida's portion of the third inning saw back-to-back singles net the contest's first run before an RBI groundout capped the scoring at 2-0 after three complete.

After a quiet fourth inning, Samford transfer Rylee Butler opened the fifth with a leadoff single, but again the hosts quickly erased the threat that was followed by a 1-2-3 fifth from AG Batson in the circle.

The Catamounts offense came alive in the sixth inning as AG Batson helped out her cause with a single before Lily Bell recorded a base knock to create WCU's opportunity. After UNF tallied back-to-back outs, Becka Wonsick laced a triple to right field that scored both runners and evened the score at two.

Deadlocked in the top of the seventh, Dirks reached base on a one-out single with Batson following with a walk to put a pair of Catamounts aboard, threatening the tie. But the Ospreys snuffed out the chance, pushing the game to the home half all square. UNF opened the bottom with a double which promptly drew a sacrifice bunt to move advance the runner to third. With two aboard after an HBP, the Ospreys secured the win on the sacrifice fly to take the 3-2 decision.

Batson (0-1) went the distance for WCU on Friday night, tossing 6.2 innings, allowing four hits and three runs with three strikeouts in her collegiate debut.

Macie Hunolt opened the game for the Ospreys, tossing 6.0 innings and scattering five hits and a pair of runs with six strikeouts, but didn't factor into the decision. Cameron Ponich (1-0) finished off the contest by tossing the final frame with three strikeouts and a hit scattered to earn the win for North Florida.

The Catamounts continue their season-opening weekend at the River City Leadoff on Saturday beginning at 2 p.m. WCU battles Jacksonville in the first game before taking on the host UNF at 7 p.m. Both contests will feature live stats available at CatamountSports.com.

Keep track of everything related to Catamount softball and WCU Athletics through social media outlets on Facebook (fb.com/CatamountSports), Twitter (@Catamounts, @CatamountSB), and Instagram (wcu_catamounts, catamountsb), or go to www.CatamountSports.com.
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