Erie, Pa.—The Mercyhurst softball team plays six games in six days with two of the three doubleheaders being non-conference series.
1. The Matchups
The Lakers are hosting Edinboro for a non-conference doubleheader under the lights of the Mercyhurst Softball Field. The Fighting Scots came to Mercyhurst on April, 2nd and the two teams split the conference doubleheader with the Lakers taking game one 4-3.
On Saturday, the Lakers host Slippery Rock for a PSAC West matchup. The teams were slated to matchup on April 12th for a non-conference doubleheader but the games were postponed due to weather. Last season the Lakers took three of four games from the Rock, the Lakers are 19-21 in the last 40 games against Slippery Rock.
Mercyhurst closes out their stretch of six in six on Monday against Walsh University. The Lakers have played Walsh just twice in their history, it was 24 years ago in 1998 when the teams split a doubleheader.
2. One, Two Punch In The Circle
The Lakers have mostly just used two players to start games this season. Mikaela Schramski has been the game one starter most doubleheaders while Morgan Hilty has taken the ball in game two. Schramski has a 2.84 ERA this season in 17 games while having ten complete games. Hilty has won the last three games she has pitched and has a team low 1.76 ERA along with a 9-5 record. She has pitched 11 complete games in 15 starts while limiting opponents to a .258 batting average. As a pitching staff the Lakers have a 2.44 ERA and opponents are hitting just .245 against them.
3. Lots of Help
This season the Lakers are hitting .290 as team while having five players batting over .300. Madison Fry leads the team and all of Division II with a batting average of .511. Kaitlin Hoffner sits at .321, Marisa Cartellone at .319, Brianna Egelston at .302, while Allison Dejdas is hitting .301 for the Lakers. The Lakers also don't depend on the long ball as they have only hit 15 homers this season which is ninth in the PSAC, they have outscored their opponents 156-99. 16 Lakers have taken at bats this season with 10 of them having more than 40.
4. By The Numbers
As a team the Lakers are ninth in the PSAC in batting average and fourth in the PSAC in ERA at 2.44. Mercyhurst also has a .967 fielding percentage as they have committed just 33 errors on 989 attempts, they are second in the PSAC in fielding. Fry and Anna O'Geen are both tied for the PSAC lead in fielding percentage as they have been perfect this season, there are only 12 players in the conference with a perfect fielding percentage.
5. Scouting The Opponents
The Fighting Scots are 3-16 this season and have been on the road the whole season as they have not played on their home field. They won their first game of the season before going on a 11 game losing streak. Following the losing streak they won two of their next three games defeating Cal and the Lakers. Since taking the second half of a doubleheader with Mercyhurst on Apr. 2 they have lost four straight games.
The Rock are 12-15-1 this season and sit just one spot below the Lakers in the PSAC West playoff race. In their last six games Slippery Rock is 1-5 with their lone win coming against Clarion on Apr. 15 in a 13-3 contest. They will host IUP on Friday before making the trip to Erie to face the Lakers. This season they are hitting .257 as a team while opponents are hitting .266.
Walsh is 6-18 this season, as of Tuesday they are on a nine game losing streak with all of them being conference games. They are 2-2 against PSAC teams this season by beating Edinboro twice and falling to Millersville and East Stroudsburg early in the season. They are hitting .261 this season and have an ERA of 5.65.
