ELON, N.C. – Before embarking on a seven-game road swing, the Elon University softball team hosts local Triad rival UNCG in a midweek contest on Wednesday, April 13, at Hunt Softball Park. The game is scheduled for a 5 p.m. opening pitch.
Follow the Phoenix
Fans can keep up with the action of the Phoenix on Wednesday via live stats from the program’s schedule page at elonphoenix.com. Updates will also be provided on Twitter on @elonscores or the program’s handle, @ElonUSoftball.
Elon SAAC Food Drive
The Elon Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) is hosting a food drive at the game on Wednesday as part of the Colonial Athletic Association’s fourth-annual conference-wide Food Drive Challenge.
The project not only provides an opportunity for student-athletes to compete in a non-athletic realm across campuses, it also allows institutions to address the need for donated food throughout their communities in an effort to stop hunger. With the help of Elon’s Campus Kitchen, Elon’s SAAC will donate all food and monetary gifts collected to Allied Churches of Alamance County.
SAAC members will be on hand at the following home events to collect nonperishable food items and monetary donations.
Versus UNCG
In a longtime rivalry that goes back to 1990 in the fastpitch era, UNCG holds a 38-33-1 record all-time over Elon. The two programs have met on a yearly basis since 1998 including a stretch as Southern Conference opponents from 2004-2014.
The Phoenix and the Spartans met earlier in the year in Greensboro for a contest on March 23. Elon fell in that contest 3-1 with Emily Roper providing the lone RBI in the game for the maroon and gold on a sacrifice fly. It was UNCG’s second straight win over the Phoenix and its seventh overall in the past eight games.
Leading Off For Elon
• Sophomore Kara Shutt’s average has been above .371 all season and north of .400 since Feb. 28 as she currently sits with a team-best .439 average. That mark is currently second in the Colonial Athletic Association.
• Elon is one of three teams in the CAA hitting better than .300, ranking third overall. The Phoenix has five main offensive starters hitting above .300 and four during CAA play. Shutt and Hannah Olson are batting .485 and .433, respectively, during league play.
• The Phoenix has scored 208 runs this season – just 10 less than its total from all of last season – and has plated most of those runs in the fourth inning (42). Elon has also scored 39 runs in both the first and third innings and is 13-2 when scoring in the opening frame.
• Roper became the seventh player in school history with 20 or more home runs with her solo blast versus Hofstra on Sunday, April 10. She is one shy of tying Emerald Graham (2010-11) for sixth all-time in career home runs at Elon.
• Over the last four games she has appeared in, senior Kayla Caruso has a 3-0 record with a 1.81 ERA in her 19.1 innings of play. She is also holding opponents to a .239 average.
Perfecto
Rookie Abby Barker tossed the program’s first-ever perfect game at the Division I level in Elon’s 8-0 win over Niagara on Friday, March 11. The Granville, Ohio, native had three strikeouts in her 6.0 innings of work and only threw 74 pitches in the contest against the Purple Eagles. It’s also the first time that Elon has no-hit an opponent since 2011.
Last Time Out
Elon suffered a 4-3 setback to Hofstra in the rubber match of the series on Sunday, April 10. After battling through a pitchers’ duel during the first six innings of the contest, Elon went up 2-0 off Carey Million’s two-run home run in the bottom sixth before Hofstra rallied to tie the game with a pair of runs in the seventh. The Pride would eventually take a 4-2 lead in the top of the 11th and hang on to win 4-3 despite a solo home run from Roper in the home half of the frame.
Scouting the Phoenix (21-17, 6-3 CAA)
Despite the setback to the Pride over the weekend, Elon is still tied for second in the CAA standings with a 6-3 record. The Phoenix’s series loss to the Pride was only its first league series setback of the year and gave Elon a 16-5 record at Hunt Softball Park.
Shutt extended her reached base streak to 22 games after the Phoenix’s contest on Sunday. Over those past 22 games, Shutt is batting .438 with five doubles, three triples, a pair of homers, 11 RBI and a .671 slugging percentage. She has also drawn 12 walks. On Saturday against Hofstra, the Greensboro, N.C., native hustled for her 27th career double, breaking into the program’s top-10 career list.
In the Phoenix’s four games last week, Olson came alive as the sophomore batted a team-best .467 (7-for-15) while scoring six runs and hitting her first two home runs of the year. She also added a double to her stat line while having a .933 slugging percentage.
Elon’s four-person pitching staff of Caruso, Barker, Kiandra Mitchum and Elise Walton posted a unit ERA of 2.98 in the Phoenix’s four games last week. Caruso was 2-0 with a 0.98 ERA in her 14.1 innings while striking out six in her three appearances. She also held opponents to a .212 average in those four contests, second behind Mitchum’s .174 against opposing batters.
Scouting UNCG (26-15)
The Spartans are coming off a Southern Conference series win over Mercer over the weekend including a walk off victory in the series finale on Sunday, 5-4. The feat improved UNCG’s record to 26-15 on the year and a 3-3 ledger in the SoCon.
UNCG is batting a solid .310 as a team with the Thomas sisters, Nicole and Lindsay, leading the way with a .460 and .414 average, respectively. The pair has also combined for 15 home runs and 57 RBI as the Spartans have belted 46 homers as a team with 212 RBI and 230 runs scored.
The Spartans have a team ERA of 3.44 in 260.2 innings of work while allowing a .252 average. Alicia Bazonski leads the staff with a 14-4 record and a 2.55 ERA in her 109.2 innings. Stephanie Bryden has appeared in a team-high 112.0 innings and has a 10-8 record and a 3.50 ERA. She also has fanned a team-best 99 batters.
On Deck
Elon takes its first CAA road trip of the year to Towson for a three-game series. The Phoenix and the Tigers begin with a twin bill on Saturday, April 16, at noon with the series finale on Sunday, April 17, at 1 p.m.