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 Michelle Tating had three appearances and three wins in the Catamounts four mid-week games this week. |
April 18, 2008
CULLOWHEE, N.C. - Western Carolina softball (13-30, 3-12 SoCon) will play it final Southern Conference road series this weekend when the Catamounts travel to Georgia Southern (28-24, 8-4 SoCon). The doubleheader of the series begins at 1 p.m. on Saturday with the single game's first pitch scheduled for 1 p.m. Sunday.
Western Carolina last faced Georgia Southern in the semi-finals of the 2007 Southern Conference Tournament. The Catamounts lost to the Eagles 3-2 when Georgia Southern scored two runs in the bottom of the seventh inning to secure the win.
Georgia Southern had its six-game winning streak snapped on Wednesday when the Eagles were swept by Georgia Tech. The Eagles have a record of 13-12 at home.
The Catamounts are coming off a pair of non-conference doubleheader sweeps of Presbyterian College and Winston-Salem State. The 4-0 mid-week record is the longest winning streak of the season for the club.
Pitchers Michelle Tating and Lilly McConagh had strong showings in Western Carolina's current winning streak.
Tating struck out a career-high 15 batters in her complete game against Presbyterian College on Tuesday. Tating allowed just one Blue Hose run and three hits in the Catamounts 6-1 victory. At Winston Salem-State, Tating tossed her second consecutive complete game allowing two runs on five hits and striking out six to earn her second win of the week. In the second game against Winston-Salem State, Tating came into the contest in the bottom of the seventh inning with the scored tied at seven. She didn't allow the Lady Rams a hit or run in two innings of work, and struck out one, to hold Winston-Salem State until the Catamounts could push across a run in the top of the eighth inning.
McDongah got the call to the mound in the second game against Winston-Salem State. She had flashes of success on the mound with a season-high nine strikeouts.
The Catamounts also had a huge offensive appearance by freshman second baseman Amber Hawkins in the last four games. Hawkins hit the first homerun of her career in the first game against Presbyterian and followed that with a second long ball in the nightcap against the Blue Hose. She continued her offensive prowess against Winston-Salem State adding a double and a triple. She ended the four games this week with five runs on five hits and five RBI. She currently leads the team with a .294 batting average.
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Ross got some national attention this week when she was mentioned in the NCAA Double-A Zone's Morning Coffee blog for her five-inning no-hitter against College of Charleston on her 21st birthday.
