Cullowhee, N.C. – Sixth-seeded Western Carolina softball begins its pursuit of the 2025 Southern Conference Softball Championship on Wednesday afternoon as the Catamounts battle seventh-seeded East Tennessee State in a win-or-go-home, single-elimination game set for a 1 p.m. first pitch from Hope Field in Spartanburg, S.C.
The winner of Wednesday afternoon's action advances into the double-elimination bracket to face third-seeded Samford at 7 p.m.
Coverage of all SoCon Tournament action is available on ESPN+ (paid subscription required) with live stats linked through CatamountSports.com.
GAMEDAY CENTRAL
WHAT: #7 ETSU (17-35, 6-15 SoCon) vs #6 Western Carolina (22-30, 6-14 SoCon)
WHERE: Hope Field (Spartanburg, S.C.)
WHEN: Wednesday, May 7 – 1 p.m.
LIVE STATS: Sidearm Stats
LIVE VIDEO: ESPN+
FOLLOW THE ACTION
TWITTER: @CatamountSB
GAME NOTES
TOURNAMENT CENTRAL
TICKETS
About Western Carolina:
Western Carolina opens the 2025 SoCon Championship after a pair of defeats at the hands of UNCG on Sunday in an abbreviated final weekend of league action, as weather cut the series down to two games. Sophomore Lily Bell led the offensive attack, finishing 4-for-6 (.667) with two runs and a double. Junior Tate Stewman and sophomore Maya McPherson each tallied a pair of hits over the two games.
Coming off a strong debut season, Bell replicated her efforts in 2025, finishing the regular season with a team-high 72 hits, 12 more than the second-place individual. She scored 45 runs to rank third in the SoCon and posted 27 stolen bases to tie for the top spot in the conference.
Her team-high .447 seasonal batting average finished the regular season in the top spot in the SoCon while ranking 18th in the NCAA. She's also 18th nationally in hits entering postseason play. She paced WCU in league play with a .444 average, totaling 28 hits, 18 runs, and nine stolen bases. Bell tallied the most hits in league action while tying for the top spot in batting average.
The Woodstock, Ga. native has been a model of consistency throughout 2025, tallying at least one hit in 39 games and 26 multi-hit contests. Bell also reached base safely in 47 of 50 games, registering a team-high 19-game reached base safely streak. She enters Wednesday's tournament with hits in 20 of her last 24 games. She strung together a pair of six-game hitting streaks, including her current streak, which she carries into Wednesday's SoCon Championship.
Infielder Maya McPherson starts the championship fifth in the league in runs batted in (47), legged out a team-best 13 doubles, and is second on the squad with six home runs. McPherson's 13 doubles put her in a tie for fifth in the league. Dirks has a team-best 10 home runs after her most recent homers against Furman in back-to-back games two weeks ago. She is tied for third in the league in long balls as she's one of six players in the regular season to eclipse double-digit homers throughout the 2025 season.
Freshman Amanda Fulton is tied for fourth in the SoCon with 11 complete games in the circle and is tied for seventh with 10 victories. She also begins the tournament sixth in strikeouts per seven innings (5.9) and fifth in overall strikeouts (97). Juett is fourth in the league in strikeouts per seven innings (6.4), tied for fourth in complete games (11), and third in total strikeouts (124).
In SoCon action, Bell finished with a league-high 28 hits, boasting a .444 batting average, tied for first in the league. She also finished third in runs scored with 18 and finished third in on-base percentage at .514. McPherson ended league action in a tie for second with six doubles. In the circle, Juett finished her final Southern Conference season third in the league in strikeouts with 53, while Fulton ranked sixth with 38 punchouts.
WCU hit .278 collectively as a team in the regular season with 370 hits, including 56 doubles, seven triples (tied for fourth), and 30 home runs. Behind Bell's team-best .447 average, classmates Dirks (.310) and McPherson (.302) follow just behind in average. McPherson leads the Catamounts with 20 extra-base hits, including a team-best 13 doubles, six homers, and a triple, while Dirks has 18 extra-base hits, including a team-high 10 homers.
Scouting the Opposition – ETSU Buccaneers:
ETSU (17-35, 6-15) enters the championship as the No. 7 seed after claiming an extra-inning win over instate foe Chattanooga on Sunday before the Mocs later claimed the series to secure the regular-season championship and top seed. The Bucs posted wins in four of their final 12 games, with single wins in each of their league series throughout the 2025 season.
WCU and ETSU have 10 common opponents in 2025: Presbyterian, USC Upstate, Winthrop, Furman, Samford, Gardner-Webb, Mercer, UNCG, Wofford, and Chattanooga. WCU is 12-18 against these opponents, and ETSU is 7-20 against the same opposition.
ETSU has had little success away from Johnson City in 2025, with a 3-14 record in true road games and a 4-9 record in neutral-site contests.
Senior infielder Cameron Young, a second-team all-conference honoree, paces ETSU's offense with a .385 batting average – fourth in the SoCon – with 60 hits, including 10 doubles, and a pair of home runs, along with 26 RBIs. Classmate Riley Nayadley closed the regular season with a .317 average with 51 hits, including seven doubles, and sophomore Makayla Veglia holds a .300 average with 36 hits and 19 RBIs. Senior two-way Sara Muir sits second on the squad with nine doubles to go along with a team-best four homers and 33 RBIs. Muir also received second-team all-league honors with Young on Tuesday afternoon.
The Bucs are led in the circle by Muir (4-4) with a 3.27 ERA over 55.2 innings of work as she's totaled 30 strikeouts in 55.2 innings of work. Sophomore Gabrielle Fowler (3-6), with a 3.50 ERA and 37 strikeouts over 58 innings of work, checks in just behind Muir on this pitching staff that has seen nine different arms in the circle, and eight of those have made a start this season.
Cheryl Milligan is in her third season at the helm of ETSU. She previously spent 15 years at her alma mater, Tufts, and three years at Army.
Series History vs ETSU:
WCU and ETSU have met 49 times on the diamond ahead of Wednesday's tournament opener. The Bucs hold the lead in the all-time series by three, 26-23, though the Catamounts claimed two of three earlier this spring in Cullowhee. WCU has claimed 10 of the past 14 all-time meetings between the two mountain rivals, with the Bucs claiming the last matchup in a tournament setting during the 2023 season. WCU has claimed three of five meetings in neutral-site matchups between the two schools.
In the season series earlier this spring, Lily Bell led WCU with a .700 (7-for-10) performance with a double and a triple, while scoring four runs. Maya McPherson totaled four hits and scored five runs as two of her hits left the ballpark. Sydney Dirks and Becka Wonsick both tallied homers in the series win. Senior Tessa Juett was 1-0 in the circle with a 0.78 ERA, tallying 14 strikeouts and allowing just one earned run in nine innings of work.
Southern Conference Tournament History:
Western Carolina enters the 2025 SoCon Tournament as the No. 6 seed for the fifth time, collecting a 3-8 record in the tournament with wins over former conference foe Appalachian State (2014), Furman (2017), and ETSU (2022). WCU looks to replicate its 2024 performance in the SoCon tournament as Lily Bell and Jeralynn Wells both posted .500 averages to lead an offensive attack that tallied wins over Furman and Mercer. Wells knocked in seven runs, while Tessa Juett picked up a pair of homers and four RBIs.
On Deck for Western Carolina:
With a win on Wednesday afternoon over ETSU, the Catamounts would return for a 7 p.m. first pitch against No. 3 seed Samford at Hope Field. Samford took all three of the regular-season meetings on the second weekend of conference play.
All games throughout the championship are slated for ESPN+ (paid subscription required), with live stats provided at CatamountSports.com. (SoCon Tournament Central)
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
