SPARTANBURG, S.C. – Western Carolina softball opened the 2025 Southern Conference Softball Championship with an offensive battle on Wednesday afternoon, but an eight-run fifth inning by East Tennessee State allowed the seventh-seeded Buccaneers to rally from an early six-run deficit to score a 12-9 win in the second of two elimination games at Wofford's Hope Field.

Sophomore Lily Bell posted her team-high 27th multi-hit game of the season with a 3-for-4 outing at the dish, driving in a pair of runs and scoring twice to lead the Catamounts. Freshman Courtney Marks, sophomore Maya McPherson, junior Tate Stewman, and graduate student Imara Harrell each added a pair of hits, with McPherson lining her team-best 14th double and tallying her seventh homer of the season.

The Catamounts opened the scoring on Wednesday as Bell walked and promptly stole second ahead of classmate Sydney Dirks, who lined a single to left to plate Bell and give WCU an early 1-0 lead.

WCU's offense continued to click in the second, capitalizing on a two-out RBI single to the fence from Stewman before an RBI single from Bell scored a second run to push the early Catamount lead to 3-0. The offense continued to fire on all cylinders as, following a Marks walk to reload the bases, McPherson lined a double over the right fielder's head that cleared the bases and gave the Catamounts an early 6-0 lead through two frames.

In the circle, the Catamounts got a strong start from senior Tessa Juett, who picked up a pair of punchouts in the first inning before a 1-2-3 second and worked around a one-out single in the third to keep the lead at six.

After both squads traded 1-2-3 half innings in the fourth, the Bucs put together their best offensive inning of the contest. ETSU sent 13 players to the plate and scored eight runs to flip the scoreboard in their favor and take an 8-6 lead headed to the bottom of the fifth.

Western Carolina answered the outburst with more offense of its own as junior Taylor Waitley grabbed a leadoff double before a one-out single from Harrell put runners on the corners. Bell then snuck a base hit through the left side to score Waitley before Marks tallied an RBI single through the middle on the next pitch to score Harrell and even the contest at eight apiece.

However, ETSU pushed back in the sixth inning with an RBI single before a two-run knock pushed the advantage to three, 11-8, after 5.5 innings. The Bucs added an RBI single in the seventh to push the advantage to four, 12-8.

WCU picked up a two-out solo blast from McPherson to inch closer in the final frame. Still, ETSU closed the contest and secured the 12-9 victory to advance to Wednesday's double-elimination portion of the tournament against Samford.

Juett went 5.0 innings over a pair of trips to the circle, scattering nine hits and five runs, with four being earned and five strikeouts but didn't factor into the decision. Freshman Amanda Fulton (10-9) totaled two innings of work, allowing seven hits and seven runs, with six being earned and three strikeouts as she was tagged with the loss on Wednesday. 

Sara Muir got the start for ETSU but didn't factor into the decision, going 1.2 innings, allowing six hits and six runs with a pair of strikeouts. Gabrielle Fowler pitched 2.2 innings, scattering seven hits and allowing a pair of runs with three strikeouts. Marissa Barens (4-9) earned the win as she went the final 2.2 innings, allowing one hit and one run to secure the win for the Bucs.

Wednesday's loss signaled the end to the Western Carolina careers for the 2025 Catamount senior class of Makenzie Martin, Mattie Mentel, Natalie Henry, Tessa Juett, and transfer Imara Harrell.

Catamount Post-Game Notes / Season Superlatives:

• With her three hits on Wednesday, Lily Bell broke her own record for most hits in a season by a Western Carolina player with 75, including nine doubles and a pair of triples;
• Bell finished 2025 with a .455 batting average, surpassing the previous benchmark set by Brooklynn Brewington (.393) during the 2023 season ... the .455 average also broke a 15-year-old SoCon record for average in a season, previously held by Nina Iduate of Georgia Southern, who hit .450 during the 2010 season;
• Bell also set single-season program records for on-base percentage (.524), tied for second in runs scored (47), and third in stolen bases (28);
• Tessa Juett closed her storied Catamount career on Wednesday with her name etched all over the record book for a WCU pitcher ... She finished second in total wins (36) and complete games (50), second in career strikeouts (450), third in starts (87) and innings pitched (538.1), fourth in appearances (117), sixth in strikeouts per seven innings (5.85), and seventh in ERA (4.41);
• Maya McPherson finished the year with the most doubles by a Catamount in a season since 2017, when Hunter Gibbons tallied a program-record 16 two-baggers … McPherson tied for the second-most doubles by a WCU player in a season … She also finished third in the single-season record book with 51 RBIs, the first 50+ RBI season by a Catamount since 2022, when Bailey Huneycutt totaled 50 runs knocked in;
• As a team, the Catamounts finished with a .282 batting average, just one point off the program record for average in a season, .283, set during the team's debut season in 2006.

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