This Week: The Mountain East Conference Tournament will be held in Salem, Va. and takes place from May 3 through May 5. Notre Dame College is the fourth seed in the North Division and they are paired up with West Virginia State University, the top seed in the South Division, on May 3, at noon. The tournament will be double elimination style.

Next Round: If the Falcons win, they will play the winner between the North's two-seed, Shepherd, and the South's three-seed, Charleston, at 5 p.m. If NDC falls to WVSU, the Falcons will battle the losing team from that same matchup, at 5 p.m.

Records: Notre Dame ends the regular season with a 22-32 record and 10-22 in the MEC. West Virginia State is now 31-12 on the season and 23-8 in MEC play. Shepherd University is 36-14 (23-9 MEC) while the University of Charleston enters the tournament at 32-19 and 21-11 in the MEC.

Coaches Corner: Kelsey Stopp is in her first season as head coach. Mattie Best is in her second full season as head coach of West Virginia State with a record of 66-34 (41-22 MEC). Marissa Leslie is now in her second season at the helm of Shepherd's program with an overall record of 70-34 while going 45-19 in the conference. Kimberly Stiles is in her third season at head of the Charleston program with a 96-65 record and a 55-41 conference record.

Rankings: None of these teams are ranked in the NFCA Coaches Poll. West Virginia State is currently first in the Atlantic Region Poll while Shepherd is third and Charleston is 10th.

Series History: The Falcons are 4-9 versus West Virginia State since the 2014 campaign. NDC has played Shepherd 23 times since 2013 and they are 6-17 all-time against the Rams. Notre Dame has put together a 3-10 record against Charleston since 2014.

Noting the Falcons: Notre Dame has now made the MEC Tournament in six consecutive seasons, every year they have been a part of the conference. The Falcons grabbed the final spot in the North Division after taking down Glenville State in the last game of the season. NDC won one game in each of their final three regular season double-headers. The Falcons finished the season hitting .275, as a team, and the pitching staff had an ERA of 3.69. Shelby Stephens leads the team, hitting .375, which also ranks 12th in the MEC. She has 63 hits on the year and 97 total bases, ranking third and fourth, respectively, in the conference. She also became the fourth player in program history with over 200 career hits. Stephens leads the Falcons in 10 offensive categories and was named to the All-MEC Second Team. Rhianna Weall played only 31 games, but she led the team in on-base percentage (.430), and racked up five doubles, 36 total bases and was third on the squad with a slugging percentage of .462. On the pitching side, Taylor Olson leads the team with a 3.46 ERA, 11 wins, four shutouts, 168 innings pitched and 118 strikeouts.

Noting the Yellow Jackets: West Virginia State had a tough schedule to end the year, taking on Fairmont State and Shepherd. After winning eight straight games, WVSU split their two games with both FSU and SU. West Virginia State does a lot of things well and is at the top of the conference in several categories. They lead the MEC in team batting average at .317 and stolen bases with 94. They are second in ERA at 1.80, one point behind Shepherd, and second in fielding percentage at .966. Paige Scruggs is fifth in the conference with a batting average of .403, and third in steals with 20. Brookelyn Hale (.392) and Kasey Murphy (.378) are also in the top-11 in batting average. Kayleigh Thompson is dangerous on the bases and leads the conference in steals with 25. The four pitchers in the rotation have a sub-2.00 ERA and all of them are in the top-seven in the MEC. Kasey Murphy leads the way with a 1.48 ERA over 66 1/3 innings pitched. All four of the pitchers have thrown under 90 innings. Seven players were named to one of the All-MEC teams, with Kayleigh Thompson and Brookelyn Hale earning a spot on the First Team.

Noting the Golden Eagles: Although Charleston has 12 home victories, they are comfortable being away from West Virginia's state capital. The Golden Eagles lead the conference with 16 road wins. They won 11 consecutive games before going 1-2 to end the season. Charleston was solid at the plate this season, putting together a .293 team batting average, ranking fourth in the conference, and they are second best with 133 walks. Their pitching tallied the third most strikeouts in the league with 252. Carly Turner had 16 strikeouts on March 11 versus Lock Haven, which is the most by any MEC pitching staff in a game this season. She ended the season, third in the conference with 141. Destinee Miles leads the team with .383 batting average, ranking ninth in the conference. Haleigh Christopher leads the MEC in RBIs (48), home runs (16) and is third in total bases (104). She also ranks seventh in NCAA Division II in home runs. Destinee Miles and Christopher took home All-MEC First Team honors after the regular season.

Noting the Rams: Shepherd went 4-6 in the final 10 games of the season. After being swept by West Liberty, the Rams also split a series with Wheeling Jesuit, Charleston and West Virginia State. They lost their top spot to West Liberty, late in the season, as the Hilltoppers went 8-2 in their final 10 conference games. Shepherd relies on their pitching and defense, as they lead the conference with a 1.79 ERA and strikeouts with 333. They also have the top fielding percentage (.978) and by far the fewest errors, with 31. Lori Sturgill has the best ERA in the conference, and 12th best in Division II, at 1.24 while her teammate, Taylor Stocks is first in wins (16), strikeouts (172) and has an ERA of 1.72. Both Stocks and Sturgill were named to the All-MEC First Team, while Stocks was named MEC Pitcher of the Year. Nicole Purtell, who is second on the team with a .331 batting average, is third in the MEC with 39 runs scored. Kaitlyn Konopka is tied for the league lead with 25 stolen bases. Connor Gilligan leads the team in batting average with .345.