ELON, N.C. – The Elon University softball team is back on the diamond this weekend, playing fellow Piedmont Triad rival UNCG in a three-game series this weekend, March 1-3. The Phoenix (5-10) will host the Spartans (8-10) on Friday and Saturday at Hunt Softball Park before traveling to Greensboro, N.C. for the series finale on Sunday.
 
FOLLOW THE PHOENIX
• Live stats will be available by going to the team's schedule page at elonphoenix.com.
• Updates will also be posted on Twitter at the team's account @ElonSoftball.
• The two Elon home games will stream on FloSofball via a paid subscription. Sunday's finale will air on ESPN+.
 
SERIES BREAKDOWN
• UNCG is Elon's most-faced opponent in its program history with the I-40 rivals meeting 97 times on the softball diamond in the maroon and gold's fastpitch era (since 1990).
• The Spartans hold a 54-42-1 ledger over Elon in the series and swept the Phoenix in a three-game set last season.
• At UNCG, Elon is 19-27-1 in Greensboro. The Spartans also have a winning record versus the Phoenix in Elon, going 24-19.
 
LAST TIME OUT
• The Phoenix competed at the Duke Invitational this past weekend taking on the field of Michigan State, Villanova, Boston University and host Duke. Elon ended the weekend going 1-4 versus the field.
• Elon's lone win came versus Villanova last Saturday with the Phoenix coming away with a 7-6 victory in eight innings. Elon had a season-high 12 hits in the contest with five players accounting for multi-base hits. Mauri Murray was 2-of-3 at the plate with two RBI and a walk while Gabi Schaal also drove in a pair of runs while going 2-of-4 at the dish. Greta Hessenthaler and Menscer each added an RBI and a pair of base hits.
• Taylor Cherry was rewarded with the win in relief, improving to 2-1 on the season. The redshirt sophomore pitched 4.2 frames and allowed four runs, three earned, along with three strikeouts. Starter Isley Duggins pitched 3.1 innings and allowed two earned runs off three hits against the Wildcats
 
THIS IS ELON SOFTBALL!!
• Elon head coach Kathy Bocock earned her 300^th career win with the program with the Phoenix's victory over North Dakota State on Saturday, Feb. 17. Bocock, who became the Phoenix's all-time career wins leader last season, is the only coach in school history with 300 or more wins at the school.
• Among her highlights during Bocock's 12 seasons leading the Elon softball program include her taking the Phoenix to the CAA title game in two of the last four seasons, earning wins versus top-10 nation teams like Georgia (twice) and James Madison and coaching the lone two All-Americans in school history (Tomeka Watson '13 and Kara Shutt '16).
 
AROUND THE HORN
• The Phoenix as a team is hitting .232 as Murray paces the squad with her .390 average along with her four homers and 14 RBI. The Marvin, N.C., native ranks third in the CAA in slugging percentage (.683) and OPS (1.151) while being tied for the league lead in homers.
• Hessenthaler is second on the team with her .289 average while being tied for the team-lead in doubles with three. The freshman is tied for the team's longest reached base streak at six games.
• Schaal had a strong week at the Duke Invitational as the redshirt junior batted a team-best .429 (6-fo-14) with two homers and five RBI. She is tied for second on the team with two homers with Allee Seering.
• Seering is second on the team in RBI with 11, which also ranks in the top-five of the CAA.
• Kaitlyn Wells is sixth overall in the country in triples with three while teammate Megan Grant is 21^st overall in the nation with two.
• McKenna McCard leads the Phoenix with 25.0 innings pitched, posting an ERA of 3.92 with a 1-2 record. She is also the team-leader in strikeouts with 17, three ahead of Cherry, who has a 2-1 record to lead the Phoenix.
• The 2024 season is the 47^th overall year of the Elon softball program and the 34^th season during the fastpitch era (since 1990). The program will celebrate its 47^th year of collegiate competition by using the hashtag #Team47 all season.
• Elon is coming off a 22-26 campaign a year ago, but went 15-7 during CAA play, tying its highest league win total ever. The Phoenix earned the fourth seed for the league tournament, advancing to the CAA postseason for the fourth straight, non-COVID year.
• The Phoenix returns 16 letterwinners from its roster last season including seven starters and five pitchers. Along with Davis and Kaitlyn Wells, some notable returners for the Phoenix include fifth-year Megan Grant and graduate student Drew Menscer and juniors Chloe Hatzopoulos, Reagan Hartley and Allee Seering.
• Hatzopoulos led the team in homers last season with 11 while Grant, Menscer and Seering combined for 77 walks. Hartley was the team's leader in stolen bases with eight.
• In the circle, the Phoenix brings back its top three pitchers in innings pitched in junior McKenna McCard, senior Meredith Wells and junior Isley Duggins. McCard served as the staff ace for the Phoenix last season, pacing the squad in innings (95.0), ERA (2.36), wins (nine) and strikeouts (50).
• Elon will also look forward to having redshirt junior Gabi Schaal and redshirt sophomore Taylor Cherry back on the diamond in 2024 after both players missed time last season due to injuries. Schaal was a Third Team All-CAA choice in 2022 after leading the team in homers (nine) and RBI (39) while Cherry received CAA All-Rookie honors after her freshman season in which she led the Phoenix with 88.2 innings pitched along with 87 strikeouts while becoming the third Elon pitcher at the Division I level to toss a perfect game.
• Bocock added three new members to her coaching staff over the summer in Jonathan Lynch, Bailey Thomas and Sophia Devesa. Lynch joins the Phoenix after spending time as an assistant coach at NAIA program Central Methodist since 2020. Lynch worked with the pitchers and outfielders at Central Methodist, helping coach several First Team All-Conference pitchers in the Heart of America Athletic Conference.
• Thomas joins the Elon staff after spending the last five seasons as an assistant coach at Utah State. While with the Aggies, Thomas worked with the outfielders while also having responsibility for all defensive instruction, game planning and in game adjustments along with assisting in hitting. Thomas also served as the travel, camp and compliance coordinator.
• Devesa arrives after serving as an assistant coach at Mars Hill since 2021. Prior to joining Mars Hill, she was a graduate assistant coach with Florida National University for two seasons.  She helped lead the Conquistadors to become the 2021 United States Collegiate Athletic Association (USCAA) National Champions as the team compiled a 28-13 overall record.  While at FNU, Devesa was responsible for coordinating and running practices, scouting opposing teams, and administrative work such as planning schedules, advising student-athletes, and game day preparations. Her younger sister Bella was a member of the Phoenix softball team from 2020-23.
 
SCOUTING UNCG
• The Spartans come into the matchup this weekend with an 8-10 record after posting a 3-2 ledger at the I-75 Tournament in Atlanta last weekend. UNCG earned wins over Robert Morris, Army and Kennesaw State.
• UNCG went 37-22 last season with a 13-4 record in the Southern Conference, winning the SoCon tournament title and advancing to the NCAA Tournament. This season, the Spartans were tabbed as the favorites in the 2024 SoCon Preseason poll.
• The Spartans are hitting .244 on the season with two players – Brooklyn Maxwell (.433) and Jessie Shipley (.377) – hitting north of .300. Maxwell is the team's main run producer with six homers and 14 RBI while Shipley has a team-high six doubles.
• Two players – senior Anna White and redshirt junior Maddie Spell – were named the SoCon Player and Pitcher of the Week, respectively, as announced on Feb. 26. Spell had four appearances, going 3-1 and tossing two complete games, inside the circle last week culminating with a no-hitter versus Kennesaw State.
• White hit .500 with a .615 on-base percentage and 1.500 slugging percentage last week. She is currently fifth in the conference with four home runs, 12 RBI, .731 slugging percentage and sixth with two hit-by-pitch.
• Janelle Breneman is in her 12^th season leading the UNCG softball program. She is the program's all-time leader in coaching wins with an overall record of 368-227. The Spartans have won the last six Southern Conference Regular Season Championships (2017, 2018, 2019, 2021, 2022, 2023 excluding 2020), the 2018, 2021, & 2023 SoCon Tournament Titles, and a spot in the 2019 SoCon Championship Game.
 
PRESEASON PRAISE
• Fifth-year Carley Davis and junior Kaitlyn Wells were named to the 2024 CAA Preseason Watch List as announced by the CAA on Tuesday, Feb. 6.
• Davis earned All-CAA accolades last season at catcher after the Bridgewater, Va., native ranked fourth in the CAA in doubles (13) and was second in the league runners caught stealing. She is also the Phoenix's returning leader in batting average (.301) and hits (41) while also ranking in the program's top three in slugging percentage (.463) and total bases.
• Wells received Second Team All-CAA recognition as a designated player/utility in 2023. The Roswell, Ga., native is Elon's returning leader in RBI (27) while ranking second on the squad in home runs (five) a year ago. The junior also earned CAA Player of the Week honors last season during a Phoenix series win over Towson.
 
2024 CAA PRESEASON POLL
• Elon was tabbed to finish sixth overall in the 2024 CAA Preseason Poll as predicted by the league's 12 head coaches as announced on Tuesday, Feb. 6.
• Delaware was tabbed as a narrow favorite to win the CAA Softball title in a tight predicted order of finish, according to a vote of the league's 12 head coaches. The Blue Hens tallied three first-place votes and 112 points to sit atop the preseason poll, ahead of newcomer Campbell, who totaled a league-best six first-place votes despite trailing with 109 points. The defending CAA Champion, Hofstra, also received three first-place votes, totaling 101 points to edge UNCW (96) by five points in fourth.
• Towson (82) and Elon (73), separated by nine points, rounded out the top half of the poll in fifth and sixth, respectively. Stony Brook (56), Charleston (55) and North Carolina A&T (39) followed, with Monmouth (36), Drexel (20) and Hampton (13) concluding the predicted order of finish.
 
ON DECK
Elon has a rematch versus Duke next Tuesday, March 5 with the Blue Devils traveling to Hunt Softball Park. Opening pitch is scheduled for 5 p.m. and will stream on FloSoftball.