Concord Prepares for Marquee Games with Notre Dame, Urbana at Home

Concord Stats - Notre Dame Stats - Urbana Stats - Live Stats (Notre Dame Game 1) - Live Stats (Notre Dame Game 2) - Live Stats (Urbana Game 1) - Live Stats (Urbana Game 2)

ATHENS, W.Va-  The Concord University softball team prepares for its final home games at the CU Softball Complex when it takes on Notre Dame on Thursday before hosting Urbana on Friday.
 
LIVE COVERAGE 
The Concord University Sports Information Department will provide live statistics and video for this weekend's contests.  To access the live coverage, follow the links at the top of the page or click here.

RECORDS
Concord enters the matchup at 24-22 overall, with a 13-9 mark in Mountain East Conference play. The Mountain Lions are 6-2 in their last eight games. 

Notre Dame is 19-22 overall this season, and is 9-13 in conference games this season. 

Urbana is 15-17 overall, and 11-11 in MEC contests. 
 
MOUNTAIN LION NOTES
The Mountain Lions opened up the inaugural Atlantic Regional Rankings released on Wednesday ranked number six.

The top eight teams from each region will qualify for the regional tournament hosted by the top two seeds in each region.  

The Mountain Lions have played every team ranked in the top 10 of the Atlantic Region except 10th-ranked Chowan, owning a 7-8 record against teams that are currently ranked in the Atlantic Region.

Concord has swept two games each from Shepherd and UVa.-Wise, ranked seventh and eighth, respectively, while going 1-3 against number four Charleston and 0-2 against number two West Virginia Wesleyan.  

Concord also dropped single games against number three Kutztown and number five Bloomsburg. 

The Mountain Lions, however, went 1-1 against number one West Chester and defeated number nine California (Pa.) 3-0 on March 13. 

CU is 20-15 overall against Atlantic Regional competition that includes the PSAC, the Mountain East Conference, and the CIAA. 

Concord's win over West Chester on was a back-and-forth affair in which the Mountain Lions found themselves trailing by two entering the bottom of the seventh.  

Senior shortstop Alayna Furr began the inning by singling to second base before stealing second to give Concord a runner in scoring position with one out.    

Furr then touched home plate courtesy of an RBI double from freshman second baseman/shortstop Jenna Witt. 

Sophomore pitcher/outfielder Abby Beatty then blasted a home run to left center field to score Witt on the and give Concord a dramatic 7-6 win. 

Freshman pitcher/outfielder Darby Fitzpatrick earned the win in the circle, pitching six innings while allowing three earned runs.       

Sophomore infielder Kylie Kent added two RBI for CU, while Beatty picked up three RBI in the game. 

Fitzpatrick also helped her cause in the batter's box by adding an RBI. 

In the Mountain East Conference, Concord picked up three wins in four games last Thursday and Friday against Shepherd and Fairmont State. 

The Mountain Lions swept visiting and MEC Northern Division-leading Shepherd in two one-run wins before splitting with Fairmont State one day later. 

In game one against the Rams, Beatty compiled a career-high four hits in helping Concord win 3-2. 

The Roanoke, Virginia native accounted for all three of Concord's RBI, while  Furr tallied all three runs scored in the win. 

The three runs came on three nearly identical sequences of play.  On all three instances, Furr reached first on either a hit or a walk, sophomore infielder Kylie Kent moved Furr to second base on a sacrifice bunt, and Beatty singled up the middle to score Furr from second. 

One of Beatty's hits proved the be the game-winner, as her single up the middle in the bottom of the seventh helped break a 2-2 tie between the two teams. 

Furr finished 2-for-3 on the day to move two hits closer to breaking the all-time record of 228 held by Alyssa Morris.  Furr picked up another hit on Sunday to bring her all-time total to 223.

Furr's multi-hit game was her 24^th of the season, five more than she totaled in 2016.     

Senior outfielder Lauren Lewis also grabbed three hits during the weekend run of games to improve her career total to 217. 

Kent, senior pitcher Allie Reid, and sophomore outfielder Lindsey Stahl each picked up two-hit games in game two against Shepherd. 

Reid also added two RBI in game two, the first time she has driven in two runs in a game this season. 

The Mountain Lions also tallied a late run in game two versus the Rams, scoring one run in the bottom of the fifth off of a double by Reid to eventually hang on for a 5-4 win. 

Senior pitcher Sarah Herndon picked up the win in relief to close out the Rams, allowing just two hits in 2.1 innings while striking out a batter, including retiring the last seven batters for SU in order. 

In game one against the Falcons, Beatty accumulated two hits, while freshman catcher Calli Van Gorden also provided the first two-hit game of her career. 

The Mountain Lions managed 11 hits total, the tenth time the Mountain Lions have garnered ten or more hits in a game this season.

Junior catcher/designated hitter Nicole Neri and Witt each notched two hits.    

In conference play this season, Reid has compiled a 5-2 record with a 1.86 ERA. Herndon also has notched a 4-3 record in MEC play this season and has struck out 23
batters in 32 innings.

Kent (.316), Beatty (.372), and Furr (.373) each are hitting over .300 in conference play. 

Furr's 33 runs scored this season are tied for third in the MEC, while her 68 hits lead the league. 

Witt's 11 doubles this year are tied for fifth in the MEC.    

SCOUTING NOTRE DAME
Notre Dame has won three out of its last four games. 

Emily Kusmits and Erin Calhoun lead the Falcons in batting average, hitting .309 and .308 respectively.  

Shelby Stephens is second in the Mountain East Conference in doubles with 13. 

Kusmits and Taylor Olson have combined for 30 starts in the circle, with Olson pitching 14 complete games and six shutouts.  

SCOUTING URBANA 
The Blue Knights are 2-2 in their last four games, although one of those wins came against Charleston, the region's fourth ranked team.  

Margo Jackson leads UU in batting, hitting .385 on the season with 12 doubles.  

Caitlyn Stoner, the Mountain East Conference's reigning player of the week, is hitting .330 on the season with 25 RBI and six home runs.   

Stoner hit four home runs and drove in 11 RBI to help lead Urbana to a 5-3 record in the past week.