BOONE, N.C. -- Following a midweek sweep of NC Central, the App State softball team (23-15, 7-6 Sun Belt) takes to the road for a trio of conference games at Troy (22-13, 8-7 Sun Belt) this weekend. The three-game series starts on Thursday at 7:00 p.m. ET. Game 2 will be played on Friday at 6:00 p.m. ET and the series finale will begin at 1:00 p.m. ET on Saturday.
The Mountaineers are coming off two wins against NC Central on Tuesday night. App State defeated the Eagles 18-1 in five innings of play in the opening game before coming from behind to pull out an 11-9 victory in the nightcap. On the night,
Emma Jones led the Mountaineers with four hits, driving in three runs and scoring five times.
McKenzie McCullen and
Kennedy Upshire each tallied three hits, homering once on the night. McCullen unloaded the bases with a grand slam in Game 1 before Upshire recorded a home run in the second contest. Upshire also supplied the two-RBI double in the sixth inning of Game 2 that ultimately secured the sweep.
Sejal Neas tossed the complete game in the opener, giving up just one run and striking out two batters.
Delani Buckner grabbed the win in the second game after coming in midway into the fifth inning. She pitched a perfect 2.2 innings, striking out seven of the eight batters she faced.
App State heads into the weekend ranked second in the league with a team batting average of .280 and
Kayt Houston ranks second in the league individually with her .391 average. She also leads the conference with 50 hits on the year.
The Mountaineers' pitching staff is third in the Sun Belt with a 2.92 earned run average. Buckner's ERA of 3.02 tabs her eighth in the league as she has struck out 85 batters this season.
This matchup pits a pair of teams that both reside in the top half of the Sun Belt Conference standings. The last time these two teams met was on April 25, 2021 and the Trojans won that contest by a final score of 8-6.
