Wheeling W. Va- After an extremely cold and windy evening yesterday, the Wheeling University Softball team (6-16), (1-1) are hoping to pack away their parkas and simply focus on playing the game they love in more favorable conditions for the rest of the season. The Cardinals are looking to keep the bats hot against a rival they know all too well, the West Liberty Hilltoppers.
The Cardinals put on a dominant performance in their Mountain East Conference (MEC) opener against the Pioneers in game one with a 13-4 win. Wheeling racked up those 13 runs on 13 hits, and they set the tone for the game, scoring six of them in the first inning. That same tone looked to be how game two was going to go, scoring four runs in the second inning, but Point Park brought six runs across the plate in the top of the seventh to come from behind and hand the Cardinals a 9-6 loss.
There were so many great individual efforts, that it is hard to select just one or two to highlight, but to start, one could look at the effort and contributions of Kaylin Shields in both games. In the box, she went 2-3 and added a run, but her pitching was the real story- In 10.1 innings, she struck out 12 batters, eight of which came from the first contest. The sophomore is fifth among MEC pitchers in total strikeouts, tallying 63 to this point in the season.
Maria Clark spearheaded the monstruous win in game one, batting a season-best 3-4 at the plate that resulted in six RBIs, and she crossed home plate twice herself. Despite the wind howling all day long, she was unfazed by it, and she was determined to do her job in the batter's box every single time. Eden Troxel had a fantastic day against the Pioneers as well, hitting 5-6 from the plate across both games while going a perfect 4-4 in game two, which marked the freshman's best outing of the season. Additionally, she tallied three runs and an RBI in both games as well.
The Rivals on the Hill
West Liberty comes into Wednesday's matchup with a 7-14 record and are 1-1 in MEC play. Ironically enough, they split with Point Park the day before Wheeling split with them. The Hilltoppers fell 12-9 to the Pioneers in game one but bounced back with a 6-5 win in game two.
The Hilltoppers are led by junior outfielder Paytyn Tucker, who is currently batting .397 this season. She sits fourth in the conference in the category, right above Wheeling's Mackenzie Burns. Pitching wise, the Toppers are led by junior Kadence Pettit. The Moundsville, W.V native holds a 3.21 ERA across 48.0 innings pitched and has recorded 32 strikeouts.
All-time, West Liberty has a 27-23 record over Wheeling. The last time the two schools met was back on April 9th of last year when Wheeling won game one 5-1 and West Liberty took game two 4-2 at the West Liberty Softball Complex.
The Details
The Wheeling University Softball team travels up the road to take on the West Liberty University Hilltoppers at the Hilltopper Softball Complex tomorrow, March 25th. Game one is scheduled for 2pm and game two is scheduled to start at 4pm. The game will be streamed live on the Mountain East Digital Network HERE and LiveStats can be viewed HERE.
