DURHAM, N.C. – The North Carolina Central University softball team will play its last doubleheader in preparation for Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) Southern Division play by hosting Northern Division foe University of Maryland Eastern Shore at Thomas Brooks Park in Cary on Thursday at 2 p.m.
 
NCCU will be providing a free audio webcast of the twin bill with NCCU Sports Network broadcaster Mike Wood on the air with the play-by-play along with live stats. Fans can follow NCCU softball all season by visiting NCCUEaglePride.com and on social media at Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.


GAME INFO


Thursday, March 23 | 2:00 PM (DH)
Maryland Eastern Shore at NCCU
AUDIO | STATS
 
N.C. Central Softball
 
The Lady Eagles are coming off a pair of losses at Radford University (6-1 & 6-0) on Tuesday. NCCU (3-17 Overall) has played 18 of its first 20 games on the road and is 1-1 at Thomas Brooks Park.
 
Dominique Wilson went 4-for-5 with her second home run of the season against the Highlanders to take over the team lead in batting average at .326. She also paces the Lady Eagles with seven RBI.
 
Sophomore outfielder Miriam Duen has hit safely in three consecutive games and sports a .320 average with four doubles. Freshman third baseman Ava Dolan (.250, 1 HR, 5 R), senior catcher Kim Mobley (.235, 4 RBI, 6 R) and senior pitcher Jennifer Allison (.213) are the other NCCU players batting over .200.
 
Wilson has been in the pitcher's circle majority of the season for the maroon and gray and enters Thursday's games with a 3-9 record with a 5.05 ERA and 38 strikeouts in 62.1 innings. Allison (0-4) is coming off her longest outing of the season to lower her ERA.
 
NCCU has seven players with multiple stolen bases on the season and junior outfielder Danyelle Noland (.160), who is tied with Mobley for a team-high six runs scored, leads the group with five thefts.
 
NCCU played Maryland Eastern Shore twice during the opening weekend of the season. The Lady Eagles scored six unanswered runs to rally to win the first game, 6-4, to give first year head coach Vashion Johnson his first win at NCCU. The Lady Eagles had 11 hits in the contest and Dolan led NCCU with three base knocks.
 
Maryland Eastern Shore Softball
 
The Hawks have played four games over the last two days, sweeping doubleheaders at Savannah State University and South Carolina State University. Eastern Shore (6-10 Overall) has played all of its games away from Princess Anne, Maryland. 
 
Junior pitcher Adrienne Guerra is a 2016 All-MEAC honoree and she tops the Hawks with a 4-4 record to go along with a 2.55 ERA and 53 strikeouts in 49.1 innings. Freshman Erin Hallman also sees a lot of action on the rubber and is 1-5 with a 6.03 ERA and 21 strikeouts in 36.0 innings.
 
Maryland Eastern Shore has the third best team batting average in the MEAC at .257 with five players boasting averages over .300. Junior infielder Samantha Casarez has started every game and leads the way with a .364 average, nine RBI, one home run, 10 runs and a .434 on-base percentage.
 
Eastern Shore bounced back from the 6-4 loss to NCCU on Feb. 10 with a 3-0 victory the next day. Hallman went the distance, scattering five hits over seven innings with two strikeouts, for her only shutout of the season.