LORETTO, Pa. – The Saint Francis softball team (26-7, 11-1 NEC) travels to Mount St. Mary's for a four-game midweek series on Tuesday and Wednesday. Each day's doubleheader is scheduled to start at 1 p.m.
 

The Matchup: Saint Francis (26-7, 11-1 NEC) at Mount St. Mary's (12-19, 5-8 NEC)
Location: Our Lady of the Meadows Field (Emmitsburg, Md.)
Date and Time: Tuesday and Wednesday at 1 p.m. (both doubleheaders)
Live Stats: mountathletics.com
NEC Front Row: Tuesday | Wednesday
 
SCOUTING THE MOUNTAINEERS
Mount St. Mary's enters the series with a 12-19 overall record and a 5-8 record in Northeast Conference contests. Most recently, the Mount split a doubleheader against Fairleigh Dickinson on Saturday. MSM lost the first game 3-0 before winning the second by a 9-7 margin. Mount St. Mary's was selected to finish fourth in the NEC coaches' preseason poll.

This season, graduate student infielder Kaylee Stoner leads the Mount St. Mary's offense in batting average (.320), at-bats (97), runs (22), hits (31), doubles (6), total bases (43) and on-base percentage (.402). Freshman pitcher Amanda Berkley leads the pitching staff in ERA (2.76), wins (8), appearances (18), starts (15), complete games (5), shutouts (2), innings pitched (78.2), strikeouts (48) and opponents' batting average (.268).

SERIES WITH THE MOUNTAINEERS
Saint Francis leads 57-24 in the all-time series against Mount St. Mary's. The teams most recently met in 2019 and split a doubleheader. MSM earned a 9-1 win in the first game before SFU won the second game by a 10-7 margin. In the 10-7 win, Mekenzie Saban had a multi-hit and multi-RBI game as she drove in the runs that would prove to be the difference. Jordan Frank hit a three-run home run in the third inning as Saint Francis took a lead that would not be relinquished.

LAST TIME OUT
The Red Flash went 3-1 in the series against Fairleigh Dickinson last week, splitting the games on Wednesday before earning the sweep and subsequent series win on Thursday. On Wednesday, SFU won the first game 1-0 as Grace Vesco pitched the complete-game shutout. Frank drove in the game's lone run with an outfield single to score Allyn Bezjak in the sixth inning. The Red Flash suffered its first conference loss, dropping Wednesday's second game 3-1.

Saint Francis bounced back with two shutout wins on Thursday, winning the first game in five innings by an 8-0 margin and the second game by a 2-0 margin. Frank hit a three-run home run as part of a four-run fifth inning as Ashley Wruble ended the game early by scoring on a wild pitch. Vesco picked up her second shutout of the weekend in the circle. In the 2-0 win, Jordan Pietrzykoski scored the first run as Tayven Rousseau drew a walk before Saban hit an RBI double to score Brittney Crawford. Rachel Marsden earned the shutout in the circle.

Through all games played on April 7, the Saint Francis pitching staff ranks fourth in the country in ERA, tied for 15^th in shutouts, 33^rd in strikeout-to-walk ratio (3.41) while the Red Flash offense ranks 34^th in on-base percentage (.399) and 34^th in scoring (6.06) and the team is tied for 32^nd in win percentage.

Saban moved into a tie for fourth in program history last week against FDU as she now has 39 career doubles. Through the games on April 7, she is tied for fourth in the country in doubles, 15^th in doubles per game, tied for 16^th in hits and is tied for 27^th in runs per game. Vesco is tied for second in shutouts, tied for eighth in wins, ranks 10^th in hits allowed per seven innings, 15^th in ERA and tied for 27^th in strikeouts.
 
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To learn more about Saint Francis University, visit francis.edu.