Wheeling, W. Va. – After rains that ran through Wheeling, West Virginia postponed the weekend, the Wheeling University Softball team (5-31, 1-13) returned to action Sunday night at the Highlands Sports Complex. They would pick up their first Mountain East Conference (MEC) win of the season as they split the doubleheader with Glenville State, and picked up their first win since February 26th, when they defeated Ursuline 10-1. The Cardinals dropped a close 3-1 affair in game one, before coming back strong with a 5-2 win in the second game to pick up that first conference win of the season.

Game One: Glenville State 3, Wheeling 1

The first game of the day was a classic pitchers duel as Tessa Wise took the circle for Wheeling against Holly Brehm from Glenville State. After getting tabbed for solo runs in both the first and the third inning, Wise was able to settle down and keep her team in the game throughout. She tossed her third complete game of the season, working 7.0 innings allowing three runs, two earned, on eight hits while walking four and striking out four. The Pioneers would have runners on base in every inning, but Wise was able to work around the traffic and keep the Cardinals within striking distance. However, Glenville State's was just as strong, and retired the first 13 batters she faced heading into the top of the fifth. Glenville State held a 2-0 lead and the Cardinals were looking to break through.

Anna Florczak would step in with nobody on and one out and broke up both the no-hitter and the shutout in one swing. She sent a solo home run over the left field wall and cut the Glenville State lead to just one, making it a 2-1 game. Wheeling would get another runner on as Jenna Hollerich drew a two-out walk and in the bottom of the sixth, it would be Chyla Miller that reached on a double. However, heading into the seventh it was still a 2-1 Pioneer advantage. They would tack on another run in the top of the seventh, making it a 3-1 game, and the Cardinals would look to add two in the bottom of the seventh. With one out, Florczak sent another fly ball deep to left, but this time Glenville State's Delaney Warwick reached up and took the home run away as the Cardinals ended up falling by the 3-1 final score.

Florczak led the way for the Cardinals, finishing 1-3 with the home run while driving in the line Cardinal run of the day. It was Florczak's second home run of the 2024 campaign as she has been a consistent run producer in the middle of the Cardinal lineup. Chyla Miller would pick up the only other hit for the Cardinals in the game, finishing 1-1 with her pinch hit double in the bottom of the sixth. The Cardinals would come back in game two as they looked to carry their late momentum and earn a split.

Game Two: Wheeling 5, Glenville State 2

After the Cardinals kept it close throughout game one, game two saw them put together yet another strong pitching performance. Ryleigh Peters would take the circle and, after delivering a 1-2-3 top of the first, her offense was quick to give her support in the bottom half of the inning. Natalie Stoner would single to start the inning and advanced to second in the next at-bat. She remained at second with two outs after a flyout and it brought Chyla Miller to the plate. The freshman would come through with a big RBI single that brought home Stoner and gave the Cardinals a 1-0 advantage. It was the first lead of the day for the Cardinals, and they were determined to stay on top. Glenville State got back on the board with a run in the top of the third, but Peters limited the Pioneers to just one run over her first four innings.

The Cardinals would get the lead back on their side in the bottom of the fourth, when Madison Kay doubled to start the inning. Katie Sare would follow with a hustle double, dropping the ball in front of the left fielder and getting to second as the defense tried to cut down Kay at third. With runners at second and third with one out, Maria Clark stepped in and grounded the ball to third. Glenville State tried to cut down the runner at third, but Kay snuck in ahead of the tag and gave the Cardinals a 2-1 lead. Two batters, later Natalie Stoner would pick up a two-out RBI single and Rayn Cassassa, who ran for Sare, would come in to score to make it a 3-1 Cardinal lead. 

The scoring wasn't done in the bottom of the fifth as Anna Florczak singled, and was pinch ran for by Kylea Chapple, and Cassie Feyh reached on an error ton put runners at first and second with no one out. It was the first of three straight Pioneer errors as Chapple and Feyh would both come around to score and Wheeling pushed their lead to 5-1 after five innings of play. From there, it was all Peters, who closed out an impressive performance in the circle. She allowed one more run in the top of the sixth before closing things down in the seventh. She got Monica Rodelo to ground out to end the game as she helped the Cardinals get their first MEC win of the season. She would throw 7.0 innings of work, allowing two runs on five hits while walking five and striking out two.

Leading the way for the Cardinals was Natalie Stoner, who finished 2-4 with an RBI on the day. Stoner was a spark plug from the top of the Cardinal's lineup as she was a catalyst for the Cardinals early offense. Cassie Feyh would add the other RBI on the day, finishing 1-3 with an RBI, while Madison Kay added a 1-3 effort of her own in the win.

The Wheeling University Softball team returns to action on Monday, April 8th, when they take on Concord at 11 AM. You can watch the game live by clicking HERE and follow along with Live Stats by clicking HERE.