MERCYHURST (2-16, 1-2 NEC) at CCSU (11-9, 6-0 NEC)
Saturday, March. 28 – 1 p.m.
Sunday, March. 29 – 11 a.m. / 1 p.m. 
New Britain, Conn. 
TV: NEC Front Row
 
The Mercyhurst softball team will play their second NEC series of this season this weekend at Central Connecticut. The games were just moved due to cold weather moving through the northeast. Game one will be played at 1 p.m. on Saturday, March 28. The series finale is now set to be a double header on Sunday at 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. Viewers can find live coverage on the NEC Front Row.   
 
The First 18 
The Lakers are 2-16 overall this season and 1-2 in NEC play. They began the season on Friday, Feb. 13 in South Carolina at the Scotsman Invitational. They opened with a pair of games against Albany and the tournament hosts, Presbyterian. Albany beat them, 6-0. The Lakers and Blue Hose played a 17-run thriller that the Lakers led for the first half of the game. Presbyterian came back and beat them, 10-7. On that Saturday, ETSU defeated MU 10-2 in six innings and then Presbyterian ran away with game two, 12-3. 
 
Mercyhurst then flew to Hawaii for the OUTRIGGER Classic. They fell to Portland State in the first game. However, Jazlynn Sanders had a two-RBI game in the second matchup with the Vikings as the Lakers picked up their first win of the season, 4-2. They fell to Portland State and Hawaii before nearly defeating Hawaii on their final day, losing 7-5. 
 
They then played a set of four games against the defending Horizon League champions, Robert Morris. The Colonials won all four, but a few Lakers had great performances against a team who was fourth in the nation on batting average at the time. Gabriella DeLuca pitched a complete game in the second contest, only allowing two hits. MU lost 2-0, but both runs were unearned. Karlie Kasten also had four hits in her four at bats. 
 
The Lakers hosted Wagner to begin NEC play. They beat the Seahawks 4-2 in game one in one of their best performances this season. DeLuca pitched a complete game and four strikeouts, with a run and RBI added to her tally. Mackenzie Gillis recorded two RBIs of the Laker's four runs. Wagner won the next two games of the series. 
 
Most recently, the team traveled to Kent State for the first-ever matchup between the two sides. Mercyhurst lead at three times throughout the day, but the Golden Flashes walked it off in both games. Bailey Cannon hit the first Division I home run of her career in this game. Her last home run was her freshman year when the team was in the PSAC. 
 
Matchup Insights
This is the second time these two have met since Mercyhurst joined the NEC. In the first series, the Lakers went 1-2 at home. The Blue Devils won game one, 8-6, and then the Lakers won game two, 4-1. CCSU won 4-1 in the series finale. 
 
In the game-one loss, Sanders had three hits and two RBIs. One of these was a home run in the first inning of the game. 
 
In the Lakers game-two win, Alexa North pitched a complete game and only allowed one run and three hits. Notably, Gillis, Kasten, and Shailene Riemedio recorded hits, RBIs, and runs. 
 
A Pair of Batting Leaders 
Kasten leads the way from the batter's box. In 40 at bats, the Elma, New York native has 15 total bases, 13 hits, five runs, three RBIs, a batting average of .325, an OPS of .747, and a slugging percentage of .375. She also is 2/2 on stolen base attempts. Kasten sits 16th in the NEC in batting average. 
 
Braylynn Kelly is second on the team with a .286 batting average. In 28 at bats, the Whittaker, Michigan native has eight hits, eight total bases, four runs, one RBI, and an OPS of .619. 
 
DeLuca Delivers
Gabby DeLuca is among the best pitchers in the NEC standings right now. She currently leads the NEC with the fewest hits allowed (28), runs allowed (20), and earned runs allowed (17). The Erie native has the ninth-lowest ERA (.533) and the seventh-lowest opposing batting average (.311). 
 
Prime Performers 
So far, Sanders, DeLuca, and Kasten have earned an NEC Prime Performer award. 

DeLuca had a stellar weekend in S.C that began her collegiate career in style. In this tournament, the Erie native had a .333 batting average, two runs, two RBIs, three and a two-run moon shot in just nine at bats. 

Sanders earned her Prime Performer award from the Hawaii tournament. Sanders had five hits, five RBIs, and she went yard in one of the games vs. Hawaii. 

Kasten, in four games and 13 at-bats vs. RMU, had nine hits, two RBIs, two stolen bases, one double, one run, total batting average of .377. She also recorded a fielding percentage of 1.000 and made seven catches from center field. Her best game of this four-game series was in game two, where she went four-for-four. 
 
Scouting CCSU   

• The Blue Devils are 11-9 overall and 6-0 in NEC play. They currently sit first in the conference. 
• They began their season in Virginia, claiming 5-1 and 5-3 wins over Norfolk State and adding a pair of losses to Rider. 
• They then lost to UMass Lowell and Towson before and after blanking Coppin State, 4-0. 
• They split a double header with Fairfield before beginning NEC play at FDU. 
• Here, they swept the Knights with scores of 7-3, 9-1, and 11-2. Two of those games were in less than seven innings. 
• In their second NEC series, they demolished Saint Francis in all three games. The biggest result was a 22-8 win in five innings in the final game. 
• Most recently, CCSU split a double feature with Hofstra. Game one was a 10-2 loss and game two was a 10-9 win. 
• Grace Lawton leads the Blue Devils' hitting statistics. Lawton, in 61 at bats, has a .475 batting average, an OPS of .515, and a slugging percentage of .934. She has 29 hits, 23 RBIs, seven home runs and seven doubles. 
• In the NEC, Lawton is all over the leaderboards: .475 batting average (1st in NEC, 40th in nation), .934 slugging percentage (2nd), .515 on base percentage (2nd), 1.449 OPS (2nd), 15 runs scored (sixth), and 29 hits (3rd). 
• In the Blue Devil's circle, Liz Hamilton leads the team and the whole NEC with a 3.78 earned run average. She is second in the conference with 53 batters struck out.