ELON, N.C. – The Elon University softball team welcomes No. 7 Duke to Hunt Softball Park for an early-week contest on Tuesday, March 5. Game time between the Phoenix (5-13) and the Blue Devils (16-1) is scheduled for 5 p.m.
 
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 game will be streamed through FloSoftball via a paid subscription.
 
SERIES BREAKDOWN
• Tuesday will be the eighth all-time meeting between the two intrastate rivals and the fourth time with Duke being ranked. The Blue Devils hold a 6-1 advantage over the Phoenix and have won five in a row in the series.
• Elon last played Duke earlier this season on Feb. 25 at the Duke Invitational. The Blue Devils won the matchup, 14-0, in the tournament finale for both teams.
• The Phoenix's lone win in the series came in 2019 as Elon defeated the Blue Devils, 5-4, at Hunt Softball Park on a Keagan Goldwait walk-off RBI single.
 
LAST TIME OUT
• The Phoenix faced longtime Piedmont Triad rival UNCG in a three-game set this past weekend. The Spartans earned the series sweep over Elon for the second straight year.
• UNCG won the first two games of the series on Saturday in a twin bill at Hunt Softball Park. The Spartans took game one, 6-2, before ending the day with a 7-3 decision over the Phoenix.
• In the series finale on Sunday at UNCG, Elon opened the game with a 3-0 lead thanks to home runs from Carley Davis and Gabi Schaal. The Spartans however put up four runs in the bottom of the fifth and added two more in the sixth to complete the sweep with a 6-3 victory.
• Davis ended the weekend batting .429 (3-of-7) with a homer and two RBI. Schaal was the other player who joined Davis in batting north of .300 with her .333 average while scoring a team-best four runs.
 
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 .220 as Mauri Murray paces the squad with her .340 average (amongst Elon regulars) along with her four homers and 14 RBI. The Marvin, N.C., native ranks in the top five of the CAA in slugging percentage (.596), RBI (14) and home runs. She also leads the team with four multi-hit games.
• Davis has posted a .350 batting average in her 10 games this year. The Bridgewater, Va., native returned to the Phoenix lineup last weekend after missing a few weeks due to injury.
• Schaal is tied for second on the team with her .259 batting average while the redshirt junior is second on the team in homers with three. Allee Seering also has a .259 batting average and is second to Murray on the team with 11 RBI. Seering's four doubles currently lead the team.
• The Phoenix leads the CAA in triples with six with two players – Kaitlyn Wells (3) and Megan Grant (2) –ranking first and second in the league, respectively. Elon as a team ranks 26^th overall in the country in triples per game (0.33) while Wells is sixth overall in the nation.
• Elon has been one of the best fielding teams in the nation this season with its .969 fielding percentage. That percentage is in the top 70 of the nation and leads the CAA.
• 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 DUKE
• The Blue Devils are currently ranked seventh in the latest NFCA Top 25 Coaches Poll. Duke comes into Tuesday's matchup with a 16-1 ledger after sweeping fellow ACC foe Syracuse over the weekend.
• As a team, Duke is hitting .372 overall, which is sixth in the nation. Eight players in the Blue Devils' lineup are hitting .300 or better with four players batting north of .400 in Claire Davidson (.479), D'Auna Jennings (.474), Aminah Vega (.415) and Kelly Torres (.409). Davidson is 19^th in the nation in slugging percentage (.938) and is second on the team in homers with five while and has driven in 21 runs. Ana Gold is the team-leader in homers (six) and RBI (22) while batting .314 overall.
• In the circle, Duke ranks fourth in the nation in ERA (0.88) and second in the country in shutouts (11). Five players have taken turns toeing the rubber for the Blue Devils with senior Jala Wright pacing the squad in innings (37.2), strikeouts (48) and ERA (0.37) while being 7-0 this season.
• Marissa Young is in her seventh season as the head coach at Duke after being hired as the program's first head softball coach in 2015. During her time with the Blue Devils, she has posted a 229-98 record while guiding the team to three straight NCAA Regional appearances.
 
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
The Phoenix opens CAA play this weekend, March 8-10, versus Piedmont Triad rival North Carolina A&T. The three-game set is scheduled to begin on Friday, March 8 at 5 p.m. at Hunt Softball Park.