BOONE, N.C. – Appalachian State Softball (3-3) heads back out on the road this weekend for the Holy City Showdown hosted by College of Charleston. The Apps will play five games in Chucktown, Feb. 22-24.
The Mountaineers, sponsored by AutoStar Nissan of Boone, head into the weekend coming off a stunning offensive performance at home against the N.C. A&T Aggies. On the road, App State is 1-1 at neutral sites and 0-2 as the visitors.
App State begins the Holy City Showdown for a 2 p.m. game on Friday against Dartmouth. At 7 p.m. on Friday, the Mountaineers take on College of Charleston. On Saturday, Feb. 23, the Apps will play Radford at 1:15 p.m. followed by Iowa State at 5:45 p.m. The weekend concludes with a matchup against Marshall at 1:30 p.m. All games will be played at Patriots Point except for the first game of the weekend against Dartmouth, which will be played on the campus of Charleston Southern.
Dartmouth
Dartmouth debuts their 2019 season against App State for the first time ever facing the Mountaineers on Friday. In 2018, the Big Green went 22-18 overall with a 16-5 conference record, finishing first in the Ivy League.
The Big Green returns 15 players to their roster while welcoming six freshmen. Current junior Micah Schroder returns as Dartmouth's leading hitter. She batted .367 as a freshman and started 39 out of their 40 games as a middle infielder.
In the circle, Dartmouth returns both Shelby Wilkison and Heather Turner, who held a 3.60 and 3.94 ERA respectively. Two freshmen, Brooke Plonka and Madie Augusto, complete the Big Green pitching staff for the 2019 season.
College of Charleston
The Cougars are 5-5 in their 2019 campaign thus far. At home, the Cougars hold onto a 4-1 record, but they have lost their last four games. As a team, College of Charleston posts a .258 batting average and a 4.67 staff ERA.
Junior catcher Lexee Emanuel tops the offensive leaderboard with a .414 average. She has started all ten games for the Cougars with one home run and 12 total hits. Iggy Berouty, a junior in the circle, holds the lowest ERA on the squad at 2.52. Her 2-2 record is tied with junior Summer Jenkins.
Head coach Linda Kalafatis enters her sixth season with the Cougars, taking over the program when App's own
Shelly Hoerner parted ways. Kalafatis owns a record of 163-118 at the College of Charleston. Against the former Southern Conference foe, the Mountaineers are 12-35. Their last meeting with the Cougars was in 2017.
Radford
Radford, picked to finish third in the Big South preseason poll, is 4-1 after their opening weekend at UNCW. As a team, the Highlanders are batting .344 with a 2.73 ERA in the circle. Six Highlanders are currently batting above .300 with Hannah Medlam leading with a .533 average.
Most recently Sydney Fisher and Brooke Bond earned Big South weekly honors as the Player of the Week and Pitcher of the Week respectively. Fisher transferred to Radford from Sun Belt opponent Georgia Southern after the 2018 season.
Head coach Hope Creasy returns for her second year as head coach of the Highlanders after a 36-19 record in her first season. The Apps are 11-14 all-time against Radford with the most recent meeting resulting in a 6-10 loss for the Mountaineers in 2016.
Iowa State
The Iowa State Cyclones are 3-5 overall this season after the first two weekends of play. Two of their losses came from No. 1 Florida State in close losses in the Joanne Graf Classic. Their three wins come from UNCG, Colorado State and Portland State.
Hannah Carter leads the Cyclones with a .333 batting average, above the team's combined .170 average. Senior pitcher Emma Hylen has spent the most time in the circle for Iowa State with 20.1 innings and a 2.75 ERA. Senior Savannah Sanders follows with 17.1 innings pitched and a 2.83 ERA.
Head coach Jamie Pinkerton has guided the program since his hire in August 2017. In 2018, he led the Cyclones to a 23-33 season and a Big 12 postseason bid, finishing sixth in the Big 12 conference.
The Apps will face Iowa State for the first time ever this weekend.
Marshall
Marshall opened their season with a 3-0 start and now hold onto a 7-3 record going into this weekend. Both Mya Stevenson and Aly Harrell are batting at .400 or above to lead the Herd offense. Four pitchers round out the Marshall pitching staff including Kailee Williamson who holds onto an impressive 0.72 ERA in 29.0 innings pitched. Abigail Tolbert follows with a 2.65 ERA in her 37.0 innings of work.
First-year head coach Megan Smith became a member of the Herd in July 2018 after coaching at Kansas. She is assisted by a former Sun Belt head coach, Corey Lyon, from ULM.
The last matchup between the Mountaineers and the Herd was in 2016, when the Mountaineers pulled out the 4-3 victory.
