Wheeling, W. Va. – After battling through a non-conference schedule that saw them take on some of the top teams in and out of the Atlantic Region, the Wheeling University Softball team (3-17, 0-0) begins the road to the Mountain East Conference (MEC) Tournament this weekend. They return to Wheeling as they host Salem on Saturday at Wheeling Park High School at 11 AM and follow that up on Sunday at the J.B. Chambers I-470 Complex with first pitch at 1 PM. The Cardinals look to take what they learned from their non-conference schedule and apply it to their run towards the MEC Tournament.
Wheeling Softball has been on the road for a good portion of the start, and they can look at the positives with young talent leading the way. Freshman Madison Kay has had a fantastic start to her collegiate career with a .349 batting average, 4 home runs, and 12 RBIs which has been a bright spot for the Cardinals. The freshman has filled in nicely in the middle of the batting order and during the annual spring trip, produced four hits, including one extra base hit while driving in two runs. She has split time between first base and designated player this season and looks to continue her success into conference play.
Senior Cassie Feyh who is batting at .458 and has 13 RBIs has led the Cardinal offense and is entering conference play swinging the bat well. In the final doubleheader of the spring trip, Feyh would go 4-5 at the plate with two RBI and a run scored and added a 2-6 day in the most recent doubleheader against Ohio Dominican. Her .458 batting average is good for eighth in the MEC this season, while she sits 11th with her 13 RBI. Sophomore Jenna Hollerich rounds out the team leaders, sitting second with a .353 batting average, while reaching base at a .404 clip. While she hasn't put up the big run production numbers, she has been a strong player getting on base and coming through when her team needs her to the most.
The Cardinals will find themselves at home for a good stretch of games and it all starts this weekend as they will start off with a double header against Salem on Saturday which is sure to be a good game and a great way for the softball team to feed off of being at home and having home fans rallying behind them. Saturday and Sunday will be the lone home doubleheader for the Cardinals in March, but they come back strong with two more home series down the stretch. The Cardinals are looking to hit their stride against conference opponents as they try to make it back to the MEC Tournament for the first time since 2018.
This will be the eighth meeting between Wheeling and Salem with Wheeling leading 4-3 in the matchup and most of the matchups have either been close are blowouts, so you never know what you are going to get with these two teams.
Salem also has some great players starting with Ricki Garay who is batting at .367 with 12 RBIs and Meladie LaRance who has one home run and 10 RBIs, so Wheeling will have to pitch well against this Salem team.
Wheeling Softball will then be at it again on Sunday against Notre Dame College in a double header and this will be the 40th all time meeting between these two teams with Wheeling leading the matchup 22-17, so it should be a good one as these teams both have a history with each other.
Notre Dame College has a lot of offensive power on their team starting with Danielle Fick who has a batting average of .383 and has 15 RBIs on the season which leads the team and they will also be looking to Meadow Odum who is batting at .289, has 2 home runs, and 10 RBIs.
=First pitch for Saturday's weekend opening doubleheader is scheduled for 1 PM at Wheeling Park High School. You can watch the action live by clicking HERE or follow along with Live Stats by clicking HERE.
