Wheeling, W. Va. – The final three weeks of the Mountain East Conference (MEC) softball season kicked off Friday as the Wheeling University Softball team (7-33, 5-17) was back at the J.B. Chambers I-470 Complex. They began a weekend where they host a pair of MEC South opponents when they hosted Davis & Elkins. The Cardinals dropped a close battle in game one and dropped the second game 14-2 to end the afternoon.

Game One: Davis & Elkins 2, Wheeling 1

The Cardinals kicked off the day by sending freshman Maria Clark to the circle and she controlled the game early on. She allowed a leadoff walk and a one out single in the first, but was able to work her way out of the jam and threw up a zero in the first and followed with another zero in the second. The Cardinals offense was blanked over the first two innings as well and after two innings the score sat at 0-0. The Senators would be the first on the board with a pair of runs in the top of the third and took a 2-0 lead into the bottom of the third. Clark would come back and start the bottom of the third with a single, but ended up being stranded as Davis & Elkins led 2-0 after three innings.

The Wheeling offense was held off the board until the bottom of the fifth when Jenna Hollerich singled to start the inning. Natalie Stoner would then follow with a single, and steal second to get into scoring position, and Clark walked to load the bases. That brought Candela Garcia Cabedo to the plate with nobody out and she drew a walk to make it a 1-0 game. Unfortunately, that was the only run scored by the Cardinals as they couldn't get anything going. Clark was the story of the game, throwing her first career complete game in the loss. She finished 7.0 innings allowing just the two runs on seven hits while walking two and striking out three. She ended up taking the loss as the Cardinals fell 2-1 after a 1-2-3 bottom of the seventh to drop game one.

Jenna Hollerich led the Cardinals offense, going 2-3 with a run scored in the game and was the only Cardinal to have a multi hit performance. The other seven hits came from seven different Cardinals as Maddie Munoz, Madison George, Anna Florczak, Cassie Feyh, Brooke Slomkowski, Natalie Stoner, and Candela Garcia Cabedo each picked up hits. The Cardinals would come back in game two as they looked for the split.

Game Two: Davis & Elkins 14, Wheeling 2

The second game of the day saw both offenses get going early after both teams were held off the board in the first. Davis & Elkins would be first on the board in the top of the second, adding two runs to take a 2-0 lead. In the bottom half of the inning, Makie Paxson drew a one-out walk. Candela Garcia Cabedo then moved the runner to scoring position with a sacrifice bunt to turn over the lineup. Maddie Munoz came to the plate and lined her MEC leading seventh triple of the year down the right field line to score Paxson and make it a 2-1 game. Madison George would then step in and singled up the middle to bring home George and tie the game at 2-2. A flyout would end the inning, but the Cardinals had momentum and were looking to get their first lead of the day.

With the game back to even, Randi Holder got back to work throwing up a zero in the top of the third to keep it a 2-2 game. However, the Senators scored four runs over the next two innings and knocked Holder out of the game. Holder would last four innings in the game and allowed six runs, four earned, on seven hits while walking four and striking out one. Jamie Anderson would then come on in relief, and seRles things down in the fifth before throwing a scoreless sixth. The Senators came back and put up eight runs in the top of the seventh and made it a 14-2 game. Anderson would last 2.2 innings allowing eight runs, on nine hits, while walking three batters. Jenee Brodeur would come in for the final out of the game, allowing one hit in 0.1 inning as Wheeling fell 14-2.

Maddie Munoz put together a multi-hit game, going 3-4 with a triple and an RBI. She extended her MEC lead with seven triples, sitting three ahead of the next closest player. Natalie Stoner added the other multi-hit game on the day, finishing 2-3 while Madison George added the other RBI. With another home doubleheader tomorrow afternoon, the Cardinals are looking for a big bounce back to close the weekend.

The Wheeling University Softball team returns to action on Saturday, April 15th, when they host West Virginia Wesleyan at 1 PM. You can watch the game live by clicking HERE or follow along with Live Stats by clicking HERE.