GREENSBORO, N.C. – Forget trying to answer complicated quadratic equations, the UNC Greensboro (UNCG) softball team knows it have to solve a simple arithmetic problem this weekend.
The second-place Spartans (28-15 overall, 11-4 SoCon) hosts first-place Western Carolina (25-21, 12-2) in the final Southern Conference weekend series of the 2021 regular season. Both programs have clinched a spot in next weekend's SoCon Tournament that begins on Thursday, May 13.
Here's what we know: The tournament will be played in North Carolina. It will be either here or in Cullowhee.
Western Carolina enters the weekend with a 1.5-game lead over UNCG for the regular season championship. The teams play three games. Anything short of three wins for UNCG means a spring road trip across Interstate 40 to Cullowhee.
Should be an exciting weekend of softball as Western Carolina and UNCG have proven themselves to be top teams in the conference this season. The Catamounts were picked last in the SoCon preseason poll while the Spartans were picked first.
The teams will play a doubleheader on Saturday, May 8 and a single game on Sunday, May 9. Both contests begin at 1 p.m. UNCG will be celebrating seniors
Hannah Stiltner,
Breanna Butcher,
Melanie Darges,
Katie Stettler,
Jasmine Palmer,
Kayleigh Willis,
Monica Pepe, and
Kylie Bouplon. The last two student-athletes will get their senior spotlight this season since last year's campaign was truncated.
UNCG enters this weekend after winning two of three games at Mercer last weekend. Western Carolina rolled past Furman in three games to maintain its first-place edge.
Both teams bring the respective SoCon Player and Pitcher of the Weeks into this series. UNCG's
Kayleigh Willis was the Player of the Week after destroying Mercer pitching last weekend especially in the Spartans' 11-3 win where she hit two three-run homers and drove in seven runs.
Western Carolina sophomore pitcher
Jayme Eilers was the conference's Pitcher of the Week after going 3-0 last week with a 0.33 earned run average. She had a no-hitter against North Carolina A&T.
Lastly, the game matches two of the top players in the conference in UNCG's
Makenna Matthijs and Western Carolina's Bailey Honeycutt.
Matthijs leads the SoCon in hits (52), runs (39), and RBIs (36). She is also second in the conference in homers (10) and total bases (92). Willis is seventh in the SoCon in batting (.337) and
Maycin Brown is eighth (.333). Meanwhile,
Morgan Scott leads the conference in earned run average (2.25) and strikeouts (163).
UNCG has also slugged a single-season program record 72 homers. In addition to leading the SoCon as ateam in home runs, UNCG has the best batting average (.273) along with the most hits (310) and doubles (68).
Honeycutt leads the SoCon in batting average (.393) and home runs (14). She also has 48 hits and 32 RBIs. Her teammate, Kailey McNeil has eight homers and 32 homers while hitting .328. She has 41 hits. They have combined to hit 64 percent of Western Carolina's homers this season (22 of 34).
Western Carolina has 300 hits as a team, which is second in the conference. The Catamounts also lead the SoCon in earned run average (3.11).
So, in the famous words of Terrell Owens, get your popcorn ready for this weekend series that promises to be intense, fun, and exciting.
