Cullowhee, N.C. – Western Carolina softball closes the nonconference road portion of its schedule on Tuesday, visiting the N.C. Central Eagles for an afternoon doubleheader. Action between the Eagles and the Catamounts gets underway at 2 p.m. from Thomas Brooks Park in Cary. Live stats coverage of both games is available online at CatamountSports.com.

Western Carolina enters off a three-game sweep of Southern Conference foe Chattanooga, giving the squad wins in six of their last eight games. NCCU begins the midweek action looking to snap a 12-game slide, which included a three-game sweep at the hands of Maryland-Eastern Shore last time out.

MATCHUP: Western Carolina (30-17) at N.C. Central (7-36)
Date: Tuesday, April 21
Time: 2 p.m. (Tuesday DH)
Location: Cary, N.C.
Site: Thomas Brooks Park
Live Stats: Stat Broadcast

About Western Carolina:
The Catamounts scored a trio of walk-off victories in their first-ever, three-game sweep of Chattanooga last weekend in Cullowhee. Sydney Dirks drew a walk-off walk to claim the opener, 4-3, before Kayden Lyda homered to right in the run-ruled 11-3 victory in game two. The Catamounts completed the sweep with a 10-1 win in game three, as Becka Wonsick capped a 10-straight-run rally after WCU fell behind 1-0 in the first inning.

With WCU's three SoCon sweeps over Furman, ETSU, and UTC, the 2026 Catamount squad matches the previous benchmark set by the 2021 team. Sunday's win also caps off the program's first sweep of Chattanooga in school history and improves its all-time best series win streak to five straight over the Mocs dating back to 2025.

Wonsick capped an incredible weekend at the dish, batting .700 (7-for-10) with two doubles, one triple, and three homers. She drove in a team-high eight runs and scored six. Senior Tate Stewman and junior Lily Bell had four hits apiece in the series, and freshman Kayden Lyda picked up three, including the game two walk-off.

As a team, WCU finished with a .352 batting average (25-for-71), totaling 12 extra-base hits – five homers, six doubles, one triple – and scoring 24 runs in a perfect 3-0 weekend over the Mocs.

Junior Maya McPherson leads the SoCon with a .432 batting average and 67 hits, which are inside the top 20 nationally. Her 16 home runs lead the league, while her 55 RBIs place her second in the conference. McPherson is also fifth with 12 doubles. Her .832 slugging percentage is tops in the SoCon.

Junior Sydney Dirks is tied for third in the league with 13 home runs and 52 RBIs. The Mocksville, N.C. native is fourth in slugging percentage (.712). The Catamount power-hitting trio of Dirks, McPherson, and Tate Stewman, who has 12 home runs, has aided WCU to 61 home runs as a team, first in the SoCon by 11. It's WCU's second 60-plus home run season, and first since hitting a program-record 81 in 2006.

Amanda Fulton is second in the SoCon with 15 victories, while her 14 complete games lead the league. She boasts the third-best ERA at 2.26 over a SoCon-long 145.1 innings pitched. Fulton is also third in strikeouts per seven innings (6.8), with her 141 Ks second in the conference, with 27 strikeouts looking, the most in the league. She also has a SoCon-best four saves, 13th in the nation.

Additional offensive leaders include:

• Dirks — 36 runs (5th in SoCon), 56 hits (t-3rd in SoCon), 13 homers (t-3rd in SoCon), 10 doubles (t-7th in SoCon), 52 RBIs (3rd in SoCon), .366 average, .712 slugging percentage (t-4th in SoCon), 15 multi-hit games, 15 multi-RBI games
• Bell – 56 hits (t-3rd in SoCon), 43 runs (t-1st in SoCon), five doubles, two triples, .339 average, 16 RBIs, 21 stolen bases (t-1st in SoCon), 16 multi-hit games
• Taylor Waitley – .336 average, seven doubles, 35 runs (6th in SoCon), 25 RBIs, 48 hits (t-10th in SoCon), two home runs, eight stolen bases (9th in SoCon)
• Stewman – .331 average, 28 runs, 44 hits, 30 RBIs, six doubles, 12 homers (t-5th in SoCon)
• Wonsick – .304 average, 19 runs, 24 hits, four doubles, eight homers, 25 RBIs, nine walks, four stolen bases
• SoCon team hitting ranks: .312 average (2nd), 305 runs (1ST), 399 hits (1ST), 62 doubles (3rd), 61 homers (1ST), 285 RBIs (1ST), 63 steals (2nd), 144 walks (3rd), .385 on-base pct. (2nd), .514 slugging pct. (1ST).
• SoCon team pitching ranks: 30 wins (2nd), 4.29 ERA (3rd), 209 strikeouts (t-2nd), 189 earned runs (5th), 4.7 strikeouts per seven (4th), four saves (2nd)

Scouting the N.C. Central Eagles:
N.C. Central enters Tuesday's midweek action on a 12-game slide after falling to Maryland Eastern Shore in MEAC action. The two teams have two common opponents: N.C. A&T, and Gardner-Webb, with the Eagles winless in four games compared to WCU at 4-2. NCCU is 4-9 in home games, with just three wins away from home.

The Eagles are led by:

• Daiyah Bailey – team-best .331 average, 26 runs, 45 hits, four doubles, two triples, nine RBIs, 12 stolen bases
• Izabella Chavez – .330 average, 16 runs, 29 hits, five doubles, 16 RBIs, 23 walks, five stolen bases
• Tyler Suttles – .355 average, 18 runs, 33 hits, five doubles, seven triples, 20 RBIs, 10 stolen bases
• MEAC team hitting ranks: .236 average (8th), 134 runs (7th), 233 hits (7th), 31 doubles (8th), 15 triples (1ST), four homers (8th), 117 RBIs (7th), 53 steals (5th), 89 walks (t-5th), .313 on-base pct. (8th), .310 slugging pct. (8th).

In the circle:

• Madeline Janssen – team-best four wins, 30 appearances, 25 starts, seven complete games, two shutouts, 107 innings, 73 strikeouts
• Simone Mack – one victory, 29 appearances, three complete games, 92.1 innings, 24 strikeouts
• MEAC team pitching ranks: Seven wins (8th), 7.19 ERA (8th), 108 strikeouts (6th), 253 earned runs (8th), 246.1 innings (t-3rd)

Catamounts and Eagles – All-Time Series History:
Western Carolina leads the all-time series over N.C. Central, 13-3. The two teams split last season's meetings in Cullowhee as the Catamounts earned a 15-2 run-rule decision before the Eagles claimed a 10-7 game two result. WCU holds a 7-1 advantage in games contested in the all-time series away from Western Carolina.

Stewman and McPherson led WCU with four hits apiece a season ago as Stewman hit a homer and McPherson recorded a double. Bell picked up three hits for the Catamounts.

On Deck for Western Carolina:
WCU closes the home portion of its schedule with a three-game Southern Conference series against Mercer on Betty Peele Field at the Catamount Softball Complex. Live stats will be available for each game online at CatamountSports.com, with the weekend broadcast schedule to be announced.

Following the final out of the regular-season home finale, Western Carolina will honor its 2026 senior class, including catcher Taylor Waitley, outfielder Rylee Butler, pitcher Riley Pennington, and first baseman Tate Stewman.

Fans can follow WCU softball on Facebook, Twitter (@CatamountSB), Instagram, and CatamountSports.com.