Elon Softball Continues SoCon Slate at Samford

ELON, N.C. – The Elon softball team will be back in action this weekend in Birmingham, Ala., for a three-game Southern Conference clash at Samford. The series is slated to begin on Saturday, April 20, at 2 p.m. EST and concluding on Sunday, April 21, at 2 p.m. at the newly opened Samford Softball Stadium.

Live Coverage
Fans can follow the action of the series via live stats by going to the Elon softball schedule page at elonphoenix.com. Twitter updates will also be provided at @ElonScores.

Series History
Going into the weekend series, Elon and Samford have faced each other 11 times in the all-time meeting between the two schools, dating back to 2002 in the fast-pitch era. The Bulldogs hold a 7-4 advantage over the Phoenix, including two out of three in last season’s meeting in Elon.

Last Time Out
Elon won its first SoCon series last weekend, April 13-14, versus Western Carolina. The Phoenix split its doubleheader against the Catamounts on Saturday, April 13, before clinching the series on Sunday, April 14, with a 4-1 win in the rubber match.

Tomeka Watson hit .667 (6-for-9) in the three-game matchup along with an RBI, two stolen bases and while adding her league-leading 14th homer of the season. Freshman Kayla Caruso earned both wins versus the Catamounts after allowing only two total earned runs (1.00 ERA) and four total hits in both complete game starts.

Scouting the Phoenix (14-26, 4-11 SoCon)
The Phoenix and the Bulldogs will be jostling for position in the SoCon as the two schools are close to each other in the standings. Elon will look for its second consecutive SoCon series win and the first on the road this season.

Watson earned her second SoCon Player of the Week accolade on Monday, April 15 and needs three stolen bases to become the second player in school history to reach 100 for a career. On the year, Watson is batting a league-high .467 on the year, one of six categories that she paces the conference in.

Caruso leads the Elon pitching staff in wins (eight), ERA (3.65), innings pitched (113.0) and strikeouts (59).

Scouting Samford (11-30, 3-12 SoCon)
Samford has lost its last eight games, including its most recent contests on Thursday, April 18, in a doubleheader at Georgia State.

Alex Adams offensively leads the Bulldogs with team-highs in batting average (.256) and RBI (16). Megan Dowdy is close with her .254 average on the year while tied with Adams with a team-best 30 hits.

In the circle, Mollie Hanson heads the staff for the Bulldogs with a 7-8 record and an ERA of 2.26, among the best in the SoCon.

On Deck
Elon will play a couple of games outside of league play early next week. The Phoenix will travel to Durham, N.C., to play North Carolina Central on Tuesday, April 23 at 6 p.m. The following day, the Phoenix welcome NC State to Hunt Softball Park for a 6 p.m. matchup with the Wolfpack on Wednesday, April 24.