Bears Close Out Road Schedule At Western Carolina

MACON – The Mercer softball team will cap the regular season portion of its 2026 road schedule on Friday and Saturday when the Bears head to Cullowhee, N.C., to take on Southern Conference rival Western Carolina at the Catamount Softball Complex.

The sides will open up the weekend with a 1 p.m. Friday doubleheader and close out the set with an 11 a.m. series finale on Saturday. Fans unable to make the trip to the mountains of North Carolina can still follow all of the action in progress for free via live statistics links provided by the WCU athletics department.

ABOUT THE SERIES
Dates: Friday, April 24 / Saturday, April 25 Time: 1 p.m. DH / 11 a.m. Location: Cullowhee, N.C. I Catamount Softball Complex TV: None Live Statistics: MercerBears.com/Live Twitter Updates: @MercerUSoftball

ADMISSION
Admission to all Western Carolina softball home games is free.

LAST TIME OUT
Southern Conference-leading UNC Greensboro sent its entire order to the plate in a 5-run third inning that helped the Spartans finish off a weekend sweep of visiting Mercer on Sunday afternoon at the UNCG Softball Stadium. Sophomore Isabel Fernandez hit her second home run of the season for Mercer who tacked up 10 hits on the afternoon, including four of the extra-base variety.

ABOUT MERCER
The Bears (17-26, 5-10 SoCon) carry the Southern Conference's third-best home run-hitting squad at 0.98 long balls per game and have hit at least one homer in 25 outings this season. Junior catcher Olivia Lenzen still leads the offensive charge for the Orange & Black with a .364 batting average, while preseason all-conference first baseman/pitcher Grace Jones carries a .319 batting clip. Junior right-hander Grace McKillop, who leads the pitching staff with six wins this season, has limited opponents to a .250 batting average over her last five appearances (16.2 IP).

SCOUTING WESTERN CAROLINA
The Catamounts (32-17, 11-4 SoCon) have captured eight of their last 10 games and will carry a five-game win streak into the weekend, including a three-game series sweep of Chattanooga last weekend in Cullowhee, N.C. Western Carolina paces the 8-team Southern Conference in a slew of offensive categories this season including hits (427), home runs (64) and RBI (308) and currently boast the nation's 37^th-ranked scoring offense (6.80 runs/game) and 59^th-best team batting average (.318). Junior infielder Maya McPherson shows a SoCon-leading .423 batting average with 29 extra-base hits (16 HR) and 54 RBI, while Sydney Dirks is hitting .371 with 14 homers and a team-best 55 RBI. Amanda Fulton (15-5, 2.26 ERA) has logged a bulk of the innings for the WCU pitching staff.

MERCER/WESTERN CAROLINA SERIES
Mercer leads the 20-year-old series with Western Carolina, 23-16, and has taken five of the last six meetings with the Catamounts, including a weekend sweep last season in Macon. The Catamounts are 6-6 against MU all-time in Cullowhee, N.C., but Mercer won the last two games of a weekend series with WCU on their last trip to Cullowhee in 2024.

ON DECK
The Bears will wrap up regular season play, May 2-3, when they host a weekend series with Southern Conference rival East Tennessee State (17-24, 5-10 SoCon) at Sikes Field.

STAY CONNECTED
Follow Mercer Softball on Twitter and Instagram and "Like" Mercer Softball on Facebook.

SUPPORT THE BEARS
Fans can help support the Mercer athletics department by making a gift to the Mercer Athletic Foundation. To find out more information about the Mercer Athletic Foundation email *maf@mercer.edu*.

Bears Close Out Road Schedule At Western Carolina

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Players Mentioned

Isabel Fernandez

Grace Jones

Olivia Lenzen

Grace McKillop

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