GREENSBORO, N.C. – The UNC Greensboro (UNCG) softball team heads into its second Southern Conference (SoCon) series of its schedule taking on Western Carolina this weekend.

The Spartans are coming off a six-game win streak, including a series sweep of Mercer.

This is the Spartans first road series since March 19, when they played Elon.

Who: Western Carolina
Where: Cullowhee, N.C. | Catamount Softball Complex
When: Saturday, April 2 | 1:00 p.m.
Tickets: Free Admission
Watch (ESPN+) | Live Stats

Who: Western Carolina
Where: Cullowhee, N.C. | Catamount Softball Complex
When: Saturday, April 2 | 3:30 p.m.
Tickets: Free Admission
Watch (ESPN+) | Live Stats

Who: Western Carolina
Where: Cullowhee, N.C. | Catamount Softball Complex
When: Sunday, April 3 | 1:00 p.m.
Tickets: Free Admission
Watch (ESPN+) | Live Stats

NATIONAL RANKINGS
UNCG is …

• 57th in the fifth NCAA Division I Ratings Power Index (RPI).
• second with 64 home runs.
• second averaging 2.00 home runs per game.
• 10th with a 0.578 slugging percentage.
• 20^th in scoring with 6.41 runs per game.
• 26^th with 47 doubles.
• 43^rd with 1.47 doubles per game.
• 48^th with 0.688 win/loss percentage
  Individuals...
• Maycin Brown is 14th in doubles (11), 43^rd in hits (40), and 44^th in total bases (69).
• Jordan Gontram is 33^rd in home runs (10).
• Blayke Batten is 27^th in home runs per game (0.38), 34^th in RBI per game (1.08), 40^th in runs per game (1.00), and 50^th in home runs (9).
• Grace Loftin is 12^th in RBI (38), 18^th in RBI per game (1.19), and 50^th in home runs (9).
• Morgan Scott is third in innings pitched (124.2), ninth in victories (13), and 18^th in strikeouts (135).
• Delaney Cumbie is 25^th in on base percentage (0.536) and walks per game (0.75), 30^th in runs per game (1.04).
• Brooklynn Maxwell is 18^th in toughest to strikeout (30.7).

 
#1 IN SOCON RANKINGS

• Batting average (.293)
• Slugging percentage (.579)
• On-base percentage (.375)
• Runs scored (205)
• Hits (255)
• RBI (192)
• Doubles (47)
• Home runs (64)
• Total bases (504)
• Total plate appearances (1011)
• At bats (871)
• Hit-by-pitch (26)
• Sacrifice flies (12)
• Opposing batting average (.246)
• Innings pitched (216.0)
• Batters struck out looking (56)
• Wins (22)
• Putouts (648)

DOUBLES FOR DAYS
Brown, who leads the Spartans with 11 doubles has hit a season best, just bypassing her 10 from 2021.
 
In the three-game series against Mercer, the junior doubled three times, including her first multi-double game on Saturday hitting two.
 
She is 14th in the nation with her 11 doubles.
 
Loftin is second on the team with nine doubles. She had a program-best three doubles in a 10-9 eight-inning win against Elon on March 20.

SOCON SUPREMACY
UNCG has won eight-straight regular season games against SoCon opponents dating back to the 2021 season.
UNCG has won 11-straight overall games against conference foes, including post season games.
 
OUT OF THE PARK
The Spartans have recorded at least one home run in 26 of the 32 games played this season.
 
In a 19-1 domination over Mercer on Sunday, March 27, the Spartans slugged eight home runs for the most home runs in a game in head coach Janelle Breneman's era and to stats dating back to 2007.
 
Three of the eight came from Grace Loftin. This was the fourth time in program history that a Spartan has hit three home runs in a game.
 
UNCG has had 18 games with two or more home runs. The Spartans have had four games with three home runs. There have been two games with four home runs, two games with five home runs, and one game with a season-best eight homers.
 
Jordan Gontram leads the way with 10 home runs, while Grace Loftin and Blayke Batten are second with nine homers, and Makenna Matthijs follows with eight. Samantha Lagrama has hit seven home runs, while Maycin Brown and Delaney Cumbie have blasted six each.
 
Brooklynn Maxwell, Hannah Kincer, and Jessie Shipley have each contributed three.

AWARDS ON AWARDS
Junior Maycin Brown was named SoCon Player of the Week and Louisville Slugger/NFCA Player of the Week most recently.
Morgan Scott earned her second SoCon Pitcher of the Week honor this week.
Freshman Grace Loftin was named SoCon Player of the Week and D1 Softball Freshman of the Week on March 21.
Junior Maycin Brown was tabbed SoCon Player of the Month for February.
Junior Morgan Scott was most recently selected SoCon Pitcher of the Week on March 14.
Senior Delaney Cumbie was tabbed SoCon Player of the Week on March 7 after helping UNCG to a 3-2 week.
Junior Blayke Batten led the way for the Spartans during their five-game week. She earned UNCG's second Player of the Week award on Feb. 28.
Graduate student Jordan Gontram earned the first SoCon Player of the Week award for the Spartans announced on Feb. 21.

SPARTANS' LAST TIME OUT

• UNCG took two games against Radford in a mid-week non-conference twin bill.
• It was the story of the pitchers, as Morgan Scott and Reese Byrd picked up the wins.
• Scott struck out a career-best 16 batters for her 13^th win of the season in a 4-0 victory.
• This was the second shutout for the Spartans this season.
• Byrd sat down a career-best seven for her seventh win of the season in a 4-3 triumph.
• Matthijs and Batten homered in game two, both were two-run shots.

SCOUTING WESTERN CAROLINA

• Western Carolina was picked to finish second in the SoCon Preseason Poll.
• The Catamounts are coming off a Wednesday doubleheader split with North Carolina A&T.
• Five Catamounts were named to Preseason All-Conference teams, as Jayme Eilers, Bailey Huneycutt, and Jeralynn Wells were selected to the first team, while Savannah Rice and Anna-Paige Pelfrey earned second team honors.
• Brooklynn Brewington's 19 stolen bases are 18^th in the nation, while Eilers' 1.38 ERA is 29^th in the nation.
• The Catamounts lead the conference in batters struck out with 184 and fielding percentage (.965).
• Four from Western Carolina have a .300 batting average or better, including Savannah Rice (.327), Huneycutt (.326), Natalie Henry (.303), and Bailey Treadway (.300).
• Huneycutt leads the team with 28 RBI, while Myra Twitty is second with 17 RBI.
• Rice has thrown 89.0 innings with an 8-4 record and 10 complete games, Tessa Juett is second with 57.1 innings and a 3-6 record.

HISTORY VS. WESTERN CAROLINA

• UNCG leads the series 31-20.
• The Spartans have won the last five meetings, including two games in the 2021 Southern Conference Championships.
• The last meeting was the 2021 SoCon Championship, where UNCG won 9-4, for its sixth tournament title.