SLIPPERY ROCK, Pa. – The Slippery Rock University softball team will contest a pair of Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference crossover doubleheaders when it travels to Shippensburg University on Sunday and Shepherd University Monday. Both days will begin action at 12 p.m.
 
Following a tripleheader season-opener at the Mountain East Conference/PSAC Crossover in Glenville, West Virginia, The Rock enter with an overall record of 1-2.
 
The Raiders of Shippensburg will be looking to extend their four-game winning streak and improve upon a 4-2 record. The Shepherd Rams head into the weekend with a 1-3 mark on the young season. Before seeing Slippery Rock Monday, Shepherd will host Indiana University (Pa.) Sunday in a doubleheader.
 
WATCH LIVE
Fans can watch all four games live and on-demand for free via the links below provided by Shippensburg and Shepherd Sports Information
 
GAMES 4 AND 5
Opponent: Shippensburg (Roster / Stats)
Date: Sunday – 12 p.m. / 2 p.m.
Location: Shippensburg, Pennsylvania
Venue: Robb Field
Live Video: PSAC Sports Digital Network
Live Stats: Shippensburg Sports Information
In-game Updates: X (@Rock_Athletics)
 
GAMES 6 AND 7
Opponent: Shepherd (Roster / Stats)
Date: Monday – 12 p.m. / 2 p.m.
Location: Shepherdstown, West Virginia
Venue: Sara Cree Field
Live Video: PSAC Sports Digital Network
Live Stats: Shepherd Sports Information
In-game Updates: X (@Rock_Athletics)
 

SERIES HISTORY
	Shippensburg	Shepherd
All-time Record	6-9	1-3
Streak	L1	L3
Last Meeting	May 4, 2023 SRU lost, 8-7 (8 inn.)	March 5, 2023 SRU lost, 5-3

 
Sunday will begin with the 16^th all-time meeting between The Rock and the Raiders, a series that Slippery Rock is 6-9 in. Despite the teams playing each other 15 times since 1981, the two have never played on Shippensburg's campus.
 
13 of the 15 meetings have come in the PSAC Tournament, including the most recent game meeting May 4, 2023, when Shippensburg needed eight innings to defeat SRU, 8-7.
 
On the flipside, The Rock have only ever played the Rams on Shepherd's campus. Slippery Rock split a pair of games there in 2007 before being swept last year in 9-1 and 5-3 decisions.
 

TEAM COMPARISON
The Rock	Stat	Raiders	Rams
1-2	Overall Record	4-2	1-3
0-0	Conf. Record	0-0	0-0
.268	Batting Avg.	.333	.136
3.3	Runs per Game	6.2	3.5
4.3	Opp. Runs per Game	3.3	6.0
7.3	Hits per Game	9.8	3.0
6.7	Opp. Hits per Game	8.2	7.5
1.7	Errors per Game	1.5	0.8
1.0	HR per Game	1.3	0.5
.476	SLG%	.520	.227
.375	OB%	.418	.319
.942	FLD%	.953	.969
3.50	ERA	3.41	6.49
.263	Opp. Batting Avg.	.283	.313

 
THE ROCK BY THE NUMBERS
Overall Record: 1-2
Home Record: 0-0
Away Record: 0-0
Neutral Record: 1-2
Streak: L1
Head Coach: Stacey Rice | 10^th season at SRU (158-203-1)
Roster: Link
Stats: Link

LAST TIME OUT
Playing in its first tripleheader in seven years, The Rock went 1-2 at the MEC/PSAC Crossover Feb. 25. Slippery Rock enjoyed a walk-off home run from Aubrey Mansfield in a 3-2 win over West Virginia Wesleyan College in between a 5-4 and 6-3 losses to Fairmont State University and Frostburg State University, respectively.
 
Julia Montie, who hammered out two home runs in her first two at-bats of the season in the Fairmont State game, ended the day going 5-for-8 at the plate as the team's leading batter. Arielle Brown batted .375 (3-for-8), while Alexsa Hurd wound up as SRU's lone winning pitcher on the day in the circle against WVWC.
 
LEADING THE ROCK
Montie will look to extend her team-leading .625 batting average and 2.200 OPS. Brown, Hurd and Mansfield will also hope to keep their strong batting alive, as all three enter with batting averages of .300 or better.
 
Brown, Mansfield and Montie have combined for eight of the nine RBI that Slippery Rock earned last weekend.
 
Hurd will also be hoping to keep her undefeated season alive with a team-best 1.00 ERA. Mackenzie Borkovich, who combined for 4.2 innings against Fairmont State and Frostburg State, began the season with an ERA of 1.50.  
 
IT ONLY TOOK ONE GAME FOR A PSAC WEEKLY HONOR
Despite pitching just one of SRU's three games last week, Hurd's performance earned her PSAC West Pitcher of the Week honors for the second time in her career.
 
Hurd pitched the full seven innings in SRU's 3-2 win over West Virginia Wesleyan, throwing eight strikeouts in 25 at-bats, logging 115 pitches in the game and allowing just one earned run.
 
Hurd was also named PSAC West Pitcher of the Week April 10, 2023 after going 4-0 in the circle while pitching two complete-game shutouts including a one-hit effort against Seton Hill University. She registered a career-high 15 strikeouts in a win over Gannon University that same week.
 
A STRONG START FOR MONTIE
Albeit early on, Montie's .625 batting average ranks seventh in Division II heading into the weekend.

Her 1.500 slugging percentage ranks second nationally. The Johnstown, Ohio native's 0.67 home runs per game stemming from her two homers against Fairmont State lead the PSAC and rank second nationally as well.
 
WALKING IT OFF
Slippery Rock's 3-2 walk-off win over West Virginia Wesleyan thanks to a Mansfield home run was the program's first walk-off home run since Katie Saluga's 3-bagger in a 10-8 victory over Gannon in 2013.
 
Mansfield is one of three members of the active roster to record a walk-off. Hurd has accumulated three walk-offs in the last two years, coming via RBI-singles against Clarion and Lock Haven University, and winning with a sacrifice fly against D'Youville University. Montie advanced on a walk-off passed ball in 2022 over Post University.
 
THE OFFENSE RUNS DEEP
SRU's three home runs in three games were not the only offense produced by The Rock to open the year. Hurd went 3-for-10 at the plate on the weekend, with each hit going down as a double.
 
Only four other Division II schools have more doubles per game than Slippery Rock's 2.7.
 
In total, The Rock averaged 7.3 hits per game to begin the season, seeing hits from 11 different players.
 
PILING UP THE K'S
Kelsi Anderson, Borkovich and Hurd all enter the weekend ranking in the top 10 in the PSAC in strikeouts per seven innings. Anderson threw nine strikeouts in the six innings she pitched against Fairmont State, while Hurd and Borkovich racked up eight and seven strikeouts, respectively.  
 
Slippery Rock's 9.1 strikeouts per seven innings as a team ranks second in the PSAC behind Shepherd's 9.9. Nationally, The Rock are fourth in that category in Division II.
 
EAST BOUND AND DOWN
In the last five seasons, Slippery Rock has gone 8-11 when playing now-PSAC East schools. That includes a 1-2 mark in last year's PSAC Tournament that began with an 11-10 upset win over East Stroudsburg University.
 
The Rock last swept a PSAC East school in a doubleheader March 24, 2022 when SRU defeated Lock Haven, 3-1 and 4-3, at Kasnevich Field.
 
SRU also has the opportunity to sweep a current PSAC East school on the road for the first time since defeating LHU in a pair of 6-4 wins in 1999.
 
A win this weekend would mark the eighth straight year that Slippery Rock has claimed a win over a PSAC East member.
 
KEEPING IT IN THE CONFERENCE
Slippery Rock has defeated its first PSAC opponent of the year, regardless of division, in three of the last five seasons.
 
Despite SRU's first PSAC contest of last season coming in a 9-1 loss at Shepherd, Slippery Rock has not lost its first PSAC matchup in back-to-back years since 2013. 
 
RECORD WATCH
With 29 career wins, Anderson is one win away from tying Shauna Walker's 30 wins from 2008-11, ranking second all-time in program history. Anderson needs four wins to tie Brooke Dawson's all-time record of 33 set over her career from 2015-18.
 
Additionally, Anderson needs five shutouts this season to tie Dawson for first all-time with 12.
 
At the plate, Hurd's 17 home runs rank her eighth all-time in Slippery Rock history. She could break into the top five with four more homers, tying Meghan McHenry's 21 in 2006-08.
 
An ongoing streak, Brown has reached a base in 16 straight games for Slippery Rock. Since 2008, only five SRU players have ever reached a base in 17 consecutive games. Emily Nagle got on the bag in 29 straight games in the 2018 season, leading the record book in that category.
 
THE RAIDERS BY THE NUMBERS
Overall Record: 4-2
Home Record: 2-0
Away Record: 1-1
Neutral Record: 1-1
Streak: W4
Last Five Games: 4-1
Head Coach: Alison Van Scyoc | Eighth season at Shippensburg (177-128, .580)
 
SHIPPENSBURG SCOUTING REPORT
The Raiders began their season in the Catawba College Tournament in Salisbury, North Carolina, splitting action against both Catawba and Lees-McRae College. Shippensburg played its first home games of the year Feb. 23 by sweeping Goldey-Beacom College, granting the Raiders a four-game winning streak.
 
Alicia Ball (2-1) has seen the majority of the time pitching for the Raiders, coming into the weekend with a 2.33 ERA on 18 innings pitched in three games. Katelyn Minney (2-0) has seen action in five of the Raiders' six games, throwing four strikeouts in 30 at-bats with a 1.83 ERA.
 
Shippensburg has three players with batting averages that rank in the top 10 in the PSAC, led by Taylor Myers' .583. Myers has gone 14-for-24 on the season with one RBI and two doubles. Sophomore infielder Caitlyn Martell has hit a .550 by going 11-for-20 at the plate with two of the team's eight home runs.
 
Both Brie Wilmott (.471) and Morgan Lindsay (.429) have homered three times this year for the Raiders. Shippensburg has averaged two home runs in each of its last four games.
 
The reigning PSAC Tournament champions went 34-20 overall last season, seeing the season end in the NCAA Atlantic Regionals after 4-3 and 7-2 losses to No. 3 University of Charleston.
 
THE RAMS BY THE NUMBERS (as of Friday, March 1)
Overall Record: 1-3
Home Record: 0-0
Away Record: 0-2
Neutral Record: 1-1
Streak: L1
Head Coach: Marissa Leslie | Seventh season at Shepherd (154-103, .599)
 
SHEPHERD SCOUTING REPORT
The Rams started out the year 1-3 after being swept by King University (Tenn.) and splitting games with Emory & Henry College Feb. 24-25 in Bristol, Tennessee. Shepherd's lone win was a convincing 8-0 response to E&H after falling to the Wasps 9-1 a day earlier.
 
Shepherd will see IUP at home Sunday before hosting The Rock on Monday.
 
Going into the weekend, freshman pitcher Madelayne Ruffner is Shepherd's top weapon in the circle. Ruffner is coming off a 13-strikeout effort over Emory & Henry in just her second collegiate pitching appearance. With 19 strikeouts this season and an ERA of 0.68, Ruffner ranks third in Division II in strikeouts per seven innings.
 
Lexi Clatterbuck comes into the weekend with a .250 batting average. The team's leading batter, Clatterbuck has gone 3-for-12 at the plate with one of the team's two home runs. Catcher Alex Mantz has one of Shepherd's two doubles on the season, batting a .182 on a 2-for-11 showing offensively.
 
The Rams went 28-22 in 2023, but were kept out of the PSAC Tournament with an 11-19 mark in conference play. 
 
LOOKING AHEAD
Slippery Rock will flock to Winter Haven, Florida for a 12-game slate of contests in The Spring Games March 9-15. The Rock will begin its action 9 a.m. March 9 against Notre Dame College. All 12 games will be contested at Polk State College's DiamondPlex.




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