Elon Softball Phoenix Travels to UNCW For Big CAA Series

ELON, N.C. – The Elon University softball team closes out a seven-game road swing this weekend as the Phoenix heads to UNCW for a three-game Colonial Athletic Association series beginning with a twin bill on Saturday, April 23 at 3 p.m. and concluding Sunday, April 24, at 1 p.m. at Boseman Field.

Follow the Phoenix

Fans can keep up with the action of the Phoenix all this weekend 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. The series will be streamed through UNCW’s athletic website, uncwsports.com.

Versus UNCW

Elon holds a four-game advantage over the Seahawks in the all-time series at 9-5 in the fastpitch era. The Phoenix has won seven straight against UNCW including a sweep of the Seahawks in Elon last season as both program’s met as CAA foes for the first time. This is also Elon’s first-ever trip to the softball diamond in Wilmington, as UNCW will look for its first victory over the Phoenix since 2000.

Leading Off For Elon

• Elon heads into the series third in the CAA with a 7-5 ledger, a game behind Delaware for second place in the league standings. The Phoenix will also look for its first CAA series road victory after falling at Towson last weekend, April 16-17, in its first league road trip of the year.

• The Phoenix is currently 2-2 on its seven-game road trip. Overall, Elon has a 4-7 record this year in true road games.

• Elon outhit its opponent in its 20th game in its most recent contest at North Carolina A&T. The Phoenix has an 18-2 record when it outhits the opponent.

• Sophomore Kara Shutt recorded two doubles at North Carolina A&T on Wednesday, April 20, and has 16 on the year and 30 in her career. Those 16 two-baggers are tied for the third-best mark in a single-season in school history.

• Elon’s .295 team average is its highest in a season since the 2011 season. During CAA play, the Phoenix has the second-best average in the league at .293.

Last Time Out

Elon picked up its third straight nonconference victory with a 5-0 win at North Carolina A&T on Wednesday, April 20. Sophomore starter Kiandra Mitchum struck out a career-best eight batters in the contest for the Phoenix while delivering her first seven-inning complete game of the season. Shutt and Carey Million both provided a pair of RBI in the game for the Phoenix, who avenged a 4-1 setback to the Aggies earlier in the season on Feb. 27, in Elon.

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.

Scouting the Phoenix (24-19, 7-5 CAA)

The Phoenix heads into the weekend series having scored 223 runs, third in the league, and has racked up 341 hits overall, second in the CAA. The Phoenix also continues to pace the CAA in triples with 12, three more than the closest team Delaware.

Individually, the Phoenix has four players in its normal lineup hitting better than .300 on the season. Shutt has a team-best .429 average on the year, second in the CAA. She also paces the league in total hits (60) and doubles (16). During league play, the Greensboro, N.C., native is batting .442 while teammate Hannah Olson is hitting .375 in the Phoenix’s 12 conference games. Shutt is also 18th in the nation in doubles per game at 0.37.

Shutt had her team-long 23 game reached base streak snapped last weekend, but teammate Emily Cameron has a current streak of 15 games that she has reached safely. The Kennesaw, Ga., native was walked a season-high four times at North Carolina A&T. Junior Emily Roper also received her 14th hit-by-pitch of the season, which leads the CAA and is 22nd in the country at hit-by-pitches per contest at 0.33.

The Phoenix pitching staff has a cumulative ERA of 3.38 with a balanced effort from its four-person staff of Barker, Mitchum, Kayla Caruso and Elise Walton. Elon is also third in the league with seven shutouts. Walton has been the main workhorse from the early portion of the season with a team-high 97.2 innings and a staff-low ERA of 2.44. Caruso has come on as of late as the senior has won four games and a save in her last seven appearances and is tied with Walton with seven wins on the year.

Scouting UNCW (25-18, 4-7 CAA)

The Seahawks are on a three-game winning streak after taking down East Carolina, 4-3, in their most recent contest on Wednesday, April 20, in Greenville, N.C. Previously, UNCW took two out of three against College of Charleston in its last CAA series including the final two games in walkoff fashion. The two wins improved UNCW’s home ledger to a school-record 21 wins against 14 losses.

As a team, UNCW is hitting .240 with only one player with 90 or more at bats hitting better than .300 in Kelsey Bryan. The Seahawks are outscoring its opponents by a slim margin of 147-145 with 134 RBI. Merritt Wilkinson has a team-best 19 RBI on the year followed closely by rookie Hannah Adamczyk with 18.

UNCW’s pitching staff has been among the best in the league this season with its team ERA of 2.32, which is second in the CAA. Staff ace Peyton Jordan has a team-best 12 wins with a 2.30 ERA in her 106.2 innings. She also has a pair of saves to her stat line. Three others have seen action toeing the rubber in at least 30 or more innings with each of them having an ERA of 2.35 or less.

On Deck

Elon is back at Hunt Softball Park to welcome Atlantic Coast Conference foe Virginia Tech for a midweek game on Wednesday, April 27. That game is scheduled to start at 7 p.m.