Cullowhee, N.C. – Coming off a series win over chromatic rival Furman, Western Carolina softball opens May with a trip to Greensboro to battle UNC Greensboro in the final weekend of the 2025 Southern Conference regular season. The series against the Spartans is slated to begin with a doubleheader at 1 p.m. on Saturday before a 1 p.m. first pitch on Sunday to close out the 2025 regular season.
All three games will have live stats provided at CatamountSports.com. Live Video is currently slated for all three games on ESPN+ (paid subscription requried) but is subject to change throughout the weekend.
GAMEDAY CENTRAL
WHAT: Western Carolina (22-28, 6-12 SoCon) at UNC Greensboro (36-16, 12-6 SoCon)
WHERE: UNCG Softball Stadium (Greensboro, N.C.)
WHEN: Saturday, May 3 – 1 p.m. (DH) | Sunday, May 4 – 1 p.m.
LIVE STATS: Stat Broadcast (Sat. G1) | Stat Broadcast (Sat. G2) | Stat Broadcast (Sun.)
LIVE VIDEO: ESPN+ (Sat. G1) | ESPN+ (Sat. G2) | ESPN+ (Sun.)
FOLLOW THE ACTION
TWITTER: @CatamountSB
GAME NOTES
About Western Carolina:
The Catamounts closed April with a series win over Furman to close out the home slate, taking the series finale on Sunday in run-rule fashion, 10-1. Sophomore Sydney Dirks led the offensive attack with a .700 (7-for-10) average with a pair of homers and seven runs scored. With her performance at the dish, Dirks netted her second career SoCon Player of the Week honors. Sophomore Lily Bell added four hits and scored a pair of runs, while senior Natalie Henry finished with three hits, three RBIs, and a pair of steals.
Bell ranks among the nation's leaders in hits, batting average, and stolen bases. She enters the weekend pacing the SoCon in batting average (.439), base hits (68), and on-base percentage (.508), while she is tied for first in the league with 27 stolen bases. Bell has hits in 18 of the last 22 games with a team-high 24 multi-hit games while reaching base safely in 45 of the team's 50 seasonal games.
After setting the program's career record for stolen bases, Bell is also closing in on more milestones, just five hits away from surpassing her benchmark for hits in a season, looking to surpass her previous record last season with 72 in her debut season.
Infielder Maya McPherson starts the weekend fifth in the league in runs batted in (46), leads the squad with 13 doubles, and is second on the team with six home runs. McPherson's 13 doubles put her in a tie for fifth in the league entering play on Saturday. In SoCon play, McPherson is tied for second with six two-baggers and is tied for third in the single-season program record book entering the final weekend of the 2025 regular season.
Dirks has a team-best 10 home runs after her most recent homers against Furman in back-to-back games last weekend. She is tied for third in the league in long balls after becoming the sixth player in the league to reach double-digit big flies on Sunday in the run-rule win over the Paladins.
Freshman Amanda Fulton is tied for fourth in the SoCon with 11 complete games in the circle and is tied for sixth with 10 victories. She also begins the weekend sixth in strikeouts per seven innings (5.9), and fifth in overall strikeouts (93). Juett is fourth in the league in strikeouts per seven innings (6.5), tied for fourth in complete games (11), and third in total strikeouts (121).
Bell is second in the league with 24 hits in SoCon play, boasting a .421 batting average, second in the conference. She's also tied for second in runs scored with 16 and is ranked third in on-base percentage at .492. The Woodstock, Ga. native is also third in stolen bases with nine over the first six series in SoCon play. McPherson is tied for second in SoCon play with six doubles, and Butler is tied for eighth with four two-baggers. Juett is third in league play with 50 strikeouts, and Fulton sits sixth with 34 strikeouts. Fulton is third in the SoCon with 14 strikeout looking's in her 40 innings of work in conference play.
On Sunday, the Catamounts broke the program's single-season record for stolen bases in a season with the 72nd steal of the year by junior Tate Stewman, the 13th different Catamount to swipe a bag this season. Nine players have multiple steals throughout the season. The previous benchmark of 71 was set in 2022, led by Brooklynn Brewington with 33 stolen bases, which was the single-season mark for WCU until last season when Bell swiped 34 bags.
Scouting the Opposition – UNCG Spartans:
UNCG (36-16, 12-6) enters the weekend after dropping 2-of-3 to Mercer last time out, with a 5-2 win by the Spartans in the opener before back-to-back shutouts by the Bears led to the series victory. Among the Spartans' 36 seasonal wins is a power-four victory this season over ACC foe N.C. State earlier in April. WCU and UNCG have eight common opponents in 2025: N.C. Central, N.C. A&T, Michigan, Chattanooga, Wofford, Furman, Samford, ETSU, and Mercer. WCU is 10-15 against these opponents, and UNCG is 16-8 against the same opposition.
Junior outfielder Kaylyn Belfield paces the UNCG offense with a .414 batting average, ranking second in the SoCon. Belfield begins the weekend sixth in the league with 53 hits, including a double, a pair of triples, and 12 stolen bases. Senior Grace Loftin begins Saturday's action with a .369 batting average with 58 hits, ranking in a tie for second in the SoCon. Loftin is tied for fifth in the league with 13 doubles and is tied for the league lead with 13 homers.
Senior infielder Jessie Shipley and freshman outfielder Hadley Gardner both have 10 home runs, which ranks them in a tie for third in the SoCon. The Spartans are among the nation leaders with 76 team homers and an average of 1.46 big flies per game.
UNCG is led in the circle by senior Jorde Chartrand (10-6) with a team-best 2.04 ERA and six complete games. Chartrand is third in the league with her 2.04 ERA, as she's tallied 84 strikeouts in 123.1 innings of work. Junior Salem Ward leads the Spartans with 13 wins and a 2.88 ERA while matching Chartrand with 84 strikeouts, six complete games, and three shutouts. Senior Reese Byrd has a 10-3 record with four complete games of her own.
UNCG was picked second in the eight-team SoCon Preseason Poll under the direction of 13th-year head coach Janelle Breneman. Loftin, Betsy Eatmon, and Chartrand were named to the league's preseason all-conference team, with Loftin garnering first-team honors and Eatmon and Chartrand being named to the second team.
Series History vs UNCG:
UNCG carries a 40-21 edge in the all-time series, as Western Carolina snapped a 14-game skid to the Spartans in the finale of last year's action in Cullowhee with a 13-5 run-rule victory over UNCG. Last year's win in Cullowhee was the first victory over UNCG since April 13, 2019, when WCU won 8-3 in Greensboro. UNCG has a 17-12 advantage in the all-time series in games contested in the Gate City, as the Spartans have claimed the last eight home tilts over the Catamounts.
In 2024, Becka Wonsick hit three home runs as part of four base hits, while scoring five runs and driving in seven. Tessa Juett added three hits and four runs with a pair of big flies and three walks drawn. Lily Bell added four hits along with a stolen base as Juett tallied 12 strikeouts over 10 innings in the circle.
On Deck for Western Carolina:
Following the regular-season finale on Sunday in Greensboro, the Catamounts turn their attention to the 2025 Southern Conference Softball Championship, presented by One Spartanburg. The tournament will be hosted at Hope Field on the campus of Wofford, beginning on Wed., May 7, with the championship set for Saturday, May 10. Opening-round, single-elimination matchups will be announced following the conclusion of the regular season on Sunday, May 4.
All games throughout the championship are slated for ESPN+ (paid subscription required), with live stats provided at CatamountSports.com. (SoCon Tournament Central)
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