Elon at Campbell Date/Time March 22 4:30 p.m. Location Buies Creek, N.C. Weather Stadium Amanda Littlejohn Stadium Series Elon trails 9-24-1 Last Meeting March 3, 2015 - W, 2-0 Live Stats  Click Here Twitter @elonscores @ElonUSoftball Elon at UNCG Date/Time March 23 5:30 p.m. Location Greensboro, N.C. Weather Stadium UNCG Softball Stadium Series Elon trails 33-37-1 Last Meeting March 25, 2015 - L, 9-11 Live Stats Click Here

ELON, N.C. – The Elon University softball team begins a five-game slate this week with a pair of early-week contests at Campbell and UNCG. The Phoenix faces the Camels on Tuesday, March 22, at 4:30 p.m. before heading to Greensboro for a matchup against the Spartans on Wednesday, March 23 at 5:30 p.m.
 
Follow the Phoenix
Fans can keep up with the action of the Phoenix all season via live stats from the program's schedule page at elonphoenix.com. Updates will also be provided on Twitter on @elonscores or the program's handle, @ElonUSoftball.
 
Versus Campbell
In a series dating to 1993, Elon and Campbell have met 34 times on the softball diamond with the Camels holding a 24-9-1 advantage all-time. The Phoenix won in last year's meeting, 2-0, in Elon with Emily Cameron having one of the two RBI in the game while tying the team-lead with two hits. Kiandra Mitchum pitched five shutout innings to earn the win. Both programs were originally scheduled to play on Feb. 24 earlier in the year, but had to reschedule due to weather.
 
Versus UNCG
Wednesday's contest will be the 72^nd meeting all-time in the fast pitch era between Elon and UNCG in a series dating to 1990 between the two longtime Triad and I-40 rivals. The Spartans hold a 37-33-1 lead over Elon all-time and has won six of the past seven meetings. Both programs split its home-and-home series last season with the Phoenix earning a 6-2 win in Greensboro. Kara Shutt had three RBI in that contest while Mitchum also received the win in that game in the circle after going 5.2 innings and allowed no earned runs.
 
Last Time Out
The Phoenix went 2-1 last week with wins over Charlotte at home and against George Washington at the UNCG Blue and Gold Challenge. Elon defeated the 49ers, 6-5, on a walk-off RBI single from Emily Roper that gave the Phoenix its first win over Charlotte since 2013. After a setback against Northern Illinois last Thursday in its opening game at the Blue and Gold Challenge, Elon rebounded with a 3-2 win over the Colonials on Friday, March 18 to close out the week. Rookie Callie Horn had two RBI that drove in the go-ahead run for the Phoenix in the fourth. Fellow frosh Elise Walton earned the win in her fourth complete game of the year after the Lawrenceville, Va., native allowed only five hits and no earned runs in the contest while also striking out four.
 
Welcome Back
When the Phoenix faces UNCG on Wednesday, a member of its coaching staff will return to familiar territory at the UNCG Softball Stadium. Elon's volunteer assistant coach Tatiana Alcala was a four-year starter with the Spartans from 2011-15 and helped the program to 115 wins over that span. Alcala played in 209 contests at UNCG, starting all but three of those games while playing a variety of different positions. As a senior, she set a new career-high with a .320 batting average to go with 41 hits, 19 runs scored, three doubles and three triples. She also earned All-Southern Conference second team honors in 2013.
 
Quick Hits For Elon
• The Phoenix is batting .312 as a team with four regulars hitting north of .300. Two of those players, Kara Shutt (.439) and Emily Roper (.403) are hitting better than .400.
• Elon has plated 148 runs on the year with most of those coming in the fourth frame (32). The Phoenix has also scored 29 runs in the opening inning and has a 10-2 overall record when scoring in the first and a 9-1 ledger when its scores first overall.
• The Phoenix has had 11 double-digit hitting games through its 26 games this year after only having nine all of last season. Elon is also 8-3 in those contests and is 13-1 when it outhits the opponent.
• In the Colonial Athletic Association, Elon leads the league in triples with nine and is second in runs scored, hits, doubles and RBI and is third overall in average.
• Roper and Shutt both saw their hitting streaks come to an end versus George Washington on Friday. Shutt had a nine-game hitting streak going into the contest while Roper had a hit in eight straight games. Roper also saw her reached base streak snapped as well at 14 contests, but Shutt continued hers as the sophomore has an active streak of 10 games that she has safely reached base.
• With her home run last Thursday against Northern Illinois, Roper moved into sole possession of seventh all-time in program history in career homers with her 19^th career blast. She sits two behind Emerald Graham (2010-11), who is sixth on the all-time list.
 
Scouting the Phoenix
Elon has won six of its last seven games including a season-long five game win streak to improve to 14-12 on the year going into Tuesday's contest. Last week, the Phoenix went 2-1 and scored 18 runs in those three games while also batting .304 with 14 RBI and four doubles.
 
Shutt is second in the CAA with her .439 average and is tied for the league-lead in triples with three. The Grensboro, N.C., native is also in the top three of the CAA in doubles (10) and hits (36). Roper is also in the top-10 of the league leaders in average (.403), slugging percentage (.687), on base percentage (.543), hits (27) and RBI (24).
 
Roper and Shutt are not the only Phoenix players having a standout year at the plate. Junior Carey Million is hitting a career-best .346 this season and has seven doubles, a triple to go with 11 RBI. She is also tied with Shutt with the most multi-hit games on the team this season with 10. Also making an immediate impact in the Phoenix's lineup is Kristin Hoover, who is third on the squad with 16 RBI and is tied for second on the team with two home runs.
 
The Phoenix pitching staff has a 3.65 ERA this season with five shutouts and a save through its 167.0 innings. Elise Walton has been a bright spot for the unit in her rookie season as the Lawrenceville, Va., native leads the team with six wins and is third in the CAA in ERA at 1.61 in her 56.2 innings. She also has 43 strikeouts on the year and is currently 27^th in the nation in shutouts with three.
 
Scouting Campbell (11-15)
The Camels are coming off a 0-3 weekend at its Big South series opener at Longwood this past weekend and have dropped six of their past seven contests. Campbell was selected to finish seventh overall in the 2016 Big South Preseason Poll and returned eight players from its team from a year ago.
 
Campbell is hitting .289 on the year with three regulars hitting better than .300. Amber Schisler ranks in the top two in the Big South with her .410 average to go with 11 home runs and 33 RBI. She also leads the conference with a .892 slugging percentage and has contributed in the circle with a team-low 4.44 ERA in her 34.2 innings.
 
Scouting UNCG (20-11)
The Spartans went 4-1 last weekend at its home tournament, the Blue and Gold Challenge and has won seven of its past eight. UNCG was selected to finish fifth in the 2016 Southern Conference Preseason poll with senior Lindsay Thomas tabbed as the SoCon Preseason Co-Player of the Year.
 
Thomas leads the team with a .434 average and has eight home runs with 22 RBI. She is one of four different players that has 20 or more RBI in the Spartan lineup, who have 167 on the season as a team. Overall, UNCG is batting .308 with seven players hitting north of .300. In the circle, the Spartans have relied mostly on the arms of Alicia Bazonski and Stephanie Bryden as the team has a staff ERA of 3.20. Bazonski is 11-2 on the year with a 2.12 ERA in her 85.2 innings.
 
On Deck
Elon opens CAA play this weekend, March 26-27, as the Phoenix will host Drexel for the first time at Hunt Softball Park. The series opens on Saturday, March 26, with a twin bill beginning at 1 p.m.