Softball Welcomes Charlotte to Dot Hicks Field for Conference Series

HUNTINGTON, W.Va. – The Marshall softball team is back in action at home as the Charlotte 49ers come to Dot Hicks Field for a three-game Conference USA series. The teams are set to play Friday-Sunday, April 1-3.

The Thundering Herd comes into the weekend with a 19-9 overall record and 3-3 in league play. The 49ers are 22-11 overall and 4-5 in conference. The games will be streamed on ESPN+ as well as broadcast on 88.1 WMUL-FM with audio streamed online. Links are below.

Series Details
Marshall Game Notes (PDF)
Live Stats: SIDEARM
Friday at 1 p.m. LIVE STREAM
Saturday at 1 p.m. LIVE STREAM
Sunday at 12 p.m. LIVE STREAM
Marshall Radio: 88.1 WMUL-FM audio online www.marshall.edu/wmul
Series History: 33 all-time meetings, Charlotte leads 18-15
Last Meeting: May 12, 2021 in Bowling Green, Ky. – Teams met for the first time in the postseason. Charlotte won 8-4 to advance to day two of the C-USA Tournament.

Marshall rebounded from being swept at UAB the prior weekend, to taking the sweep over the Blue Raiders at Dot Hicks Field.

Game one was a tight contest as the Herd took a 4-0 lead through three innings. Aly Harrell hit a solo home run in the first to start the scoring, the 44th of her career. Then in the third, Mya Stevenson smacked a 3-run shot for the 50th of her career. Sydney Nester was in command in the circle and allowed just one run, coming in the sixth. She struck out eight, including the 500th of her career in the second inning. It was Nester's 11th win of the season. Stevenson made a sliding catch in right field in the seventh to end the game and strand a runner on base for Middle.

In game two, the bats were swinging away as Marshall collected nine hits including three homers on the way to the 9-1 win. Katie Adams hit the first home run in the second inning and then Saige Pye belted one in the third. Stevenson sent the 51st of her career over the fence in the fourth. Harrell was walked three times, with the first walk of the day as number 148 in her career. Harrell surpassed Rachel Folden as the program's all-time leader in walks. Cailey Joyce got the start and earned the win pitching the first four innings and allowed just two hits and one run. Nester closed the game throwing the last two innings, retiring all six batters faced. Autumn Owen ended the game for the Herd early in the sixth with an RBI single that scored Alex Coleman for the eight-run, mercy-rule victory.

Game three was a record-setting day for Marshall's offense. The Herd had 10 hits with a program-record seven doubles. Grace Chelemen, Adams and Pye had two hits each. Owen scored two runs and Harrell was walked three times. Nester was in control yet again. She allowed a solo home run in the top of the first and then proceeded to allow only four base runners the rest of the way. Nester struck out nine more batters earning her 12th win of the year. Chelemen drove in Owen for the final run in the sixth to end the game with a second-straight 9-1 win.

Following the series against Charlotte, Marshall hits the road for seven-straight games. The Herd heads to Radford (April 5) for a doubleheader, then flies south for a series at Florida Atlantic (April 8-10) and then another midweek doubleheader at Northern Kentucky (April 12).

Harrell Walks into the Record Books
On March 26 in the first inning against Middle Tennessee, Aly Harrell did what she has done so many times in her career. Take another pitch that missed the mark, drop her bat, and walk to first. And she finally repeated those steps more than any other player in team history. Harrell earned her 148th walk, surpassing four-time All-American Rachel Folden who had held the record with 147 since 2008. Folden was walked for the final time in her second-to-last plate appearance in what ended up being her final game on May 8, 2008, against ECU in the C-USA Tournament. Folden set the mark in her 225th game. Harrell broke the record in her 194th game. Brooke Swann pitched the final walk to Folden. Corrina Dodd threw the record-breaker to Harrell 5,071 days later.

Number 50!
On March 25 in the third inning against Middle Tennesse, Mya Stevenson crushed a pitch off Gretchen Mead to left. It was Stevenson's 50th career home run. The senior from Mesquite, Texas, joined Rachel Folden as the only members of the MUSB 50 Bombs Club. Folden crushed 58 from 2005 through 2008. Folden hit her 50th homer on April 2, 2008, at No. 24 Ohio State, her 209th career game. She sent number 49 out of the park in game one of the doubleheader and then belted number 50 in the second inning of game two off Megan Miller. Folden hit one more bomb in the top of the 7th as the Herd swept both games against the ranked Buckeyes. Stevenson reached 50 in 145 games and hit her 51st in her 146th game. Stevenson needs just eight more homers to become the Herd's all-time Home Run Queen.

Herd Sets Team Single Game Doubles Record
In the series finale against Middle Tennessee on March 27, Marshall set a team, single-game mark with seven doubles. Katie Adams and Grace Chelemen hit two doubles each while Aly Harrell, Saige Pye and Madison Whitaker had one each. Pye started the record setting day in the first inning and drove in one run. Adams doubled (#2) to lead off the second, and later Harrell hit one (#3) to drive in two. The doubles party came out in the fifth as the Herd hit back-to-back-to-back two-baggers. Whitaker started it (#4) and drove in a run. She was followed by Chelemen (#5) and then Adams (#6) who tied the record. Chelemen hit the record-breaker (#7) in the sixth, which also ended the game as her shot to right-center drove in a run for the 9-1 win. The old record of six was set on Feb. 8, 2015, versus UNC Greensboro. The mark was tied on March 20, 2021, at Chattanooga.

FOURTH TIME! Nester C-USA Pitcher of the Week
Sydney Nester earned her fourth weekly award after a dominating performance against Middle Tennessee, March 25-27. Nester appeared in all three games with two starts. She earned two wins allowing just six hits, two runs and struck out 18 in 15 total innings. Nester earned the complete-game wins in games one and two, recorded her 500th career strikeout in the second inning of game one, and gave up just one run in each win. She also pitched the last two innings of game two, retiring all six batters she faced. Nester is the first Marshall pitcher to be honored as a conference pitcher of the week four times in one season. Sara Gulla (1998-2001) and Randi Nielson (2002-05) were both honored three times in one season back in the MAC. Gulla was selected three times in 2001 and Nielson in 2005.

The Opponent
The 49ers enter the weekend after taking a 9-4 loss at North Carolina State on Wednesday. Charlotte's last C-USA series was at home against North Texas. The Mean Green took the first two games, and the 49ers won the finale, 6-1. Charlotte lost 2-of-3 to WKU and then won 2-of-3 against UTSA.

Earlier this season, the 49ers entered the NFCA Coaches' top 25 poll at No. 25 on March 8. Charlotte had wins over South Carolina (6-1), then No. 22 James Madison (6-1) and then No. 6 Virginia Tech (5-2) as well as an 18-3 record. After a 9-1 loss to No. 13 Duke and then falling in the series to WKU, the 49ers fell back out of the rankings. Since being ranked, Charlotte is 4-8.

Despite the recent losses, the 49ers still sport one of the best offenses in the league. As a team, Charlotte is batting .306 (.310 in conference games) with 2021 C-USA Player of the Year Bailey Vannoy leading the way with 41 hits, 33 runs scored, 12 home runs, three triples, 27 RBI and slugging .818. She is second in batting average (.373) behind Cori Henderson (.383). Charlotte has scored 185 runs, an average of 5.61 per game. The squad has 57 doubles, 10 triples and 39 home runs as well. Twelve different players have at least one extra base hit.

In the circle, Lindsey Walljasper has been the leader with a 2.62 ERA, 10-5 record and 78 strikeouts in 88.1 innings. Amelia Wiercioch is second with a 3.21 ERA, 6-2 record and 44 strikeouts in 72 innings. Madelyn Wright has a 4.91 ERA in 51.1 innings and a 4-4 record.

Charlotte is solid once again on defense with a team fielding percentage of .967.

Head coach Ashley Chastain is in her third season leading the 49ers. She has a 67-43 record.

Following the series in Huntington, the 49ers return home for a single game against North Carolina on April 6 and then a C-USA series versus Southern Miss, April 8-10.

For all of the latest information on the Marshall Softball team, follow the Herd on Twitter @HerdSB, Facebook at Marshall University Softball and on www.herdzone.com.

---HerdZone.com---

Softball Welcomes Charlotte to Dot Hicks Field for Conference Series

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Players Mentioned

Katie Adams

Grace Chelemen

Alex Coleman

Aly Harrell

Cailey Joyce

Sydney Nester

Autumn Owen

Saige Pye

Mya Stevenson

Madison Whitaker

Marshall University Athletics