This Week: Notre Dame College softball will take a tour of West Virginia this week. On March 29, the Falcons will visit Alderson Broaddus University, at 1 and 3 p.m. Over the weekend, they will travel to meet Davis & Elkins College, on April 1, at 12 and 2 p.m. And on April 2, NDC will play West Virginia Wesleyan College, at 12 and 2 p.m.

Records: Notre Dame has a record of 14-10 (6-2 MEC) to start the season. Alderson Broaddus is 5-19, overall, with a 2-6 MEC record. That includes a mark of 0-12 on the road. Davis & Elkins will be playing its first home games of the season this week, and have started the year 8-18 (2-6 MEC). West Virginia Wesleyan will also be playing its first home game of the season this week, but the Bobcats have gotten off to a 20-7 (7-1 MEC) start and lead the South Division.

Coaches Corner: Kelsey Stopp is now in her fourth season as head coach of the NDC Falcons. She has a record of 75-103 (43-59 MEC). Steve Warner is in his 30th season at W.Va. Wesleyan with a record of 1,153-433-2. Elle Fracker has been at D&E for three seasons and Nikki Nuzum is in her second season in the dugout at AB.

Rankings: None of these teams are ranked in the National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA) Division II top 25 poll.

Series History: Notre Dame first met Alderson Broaddus in 2021 and the Falcons have had a lot of success, going 8-0 against the Battlers. NDC first met D&E in 2014 and have an all-time record of 5-3 against the Senators. Also since 2014, Notre Dame has a 5-13 mark against WVWC.

Noting the Falcons: Notre Dame is coming off of a 6-2 week. Due to a few postponements, the Falcons swept Wheeling, on Tuesday, and split a doubleheader with West Liberty, on Wednesday. They went on the road and swept Frostburg State, on Saturday, before splitting the final series of the week against Fairmont State. Entering the week, NDC had never beaten Frostburg State.
 
The Falcons have gotten off to their best start to conference play since joining the Mountain East Conference in 2014. This is NDC's best overall start through 24 games since 2009. That season, the program won 34 games.
 
Emma Gumont was named MEC Player of the Week after she went 12-for-26 (.462) at the plate, with eight runs scored, 14 RBI, three doubles, a triple, two home runs and three stolen bases. She also had five multi-hit games and five multi-RBI games. Pitcher Grace Fisher tied a program record with 13 strikeouts in a win over Frostburg State.
 
Emma Gumont leads the team with a .377 batting average, a .623 slugging percentage, .407 on-base percentage, 1.030 on-base-plus-slugging percentage, 29 hits, 25 RBI, 48 total bases and is tied for the team lead with two triples and three home runs. Danielle Fick is not far behind with a .346 average, 28 hits, three home runs, 46 RBI and a .384 on-base percentage. Fick leads the conference in doubles, as she has nine already on the season. Alexi Maciejowski is also starting to heat up as she had nine hits last week and raised her batting average from .250 to .294. Grace Fisher continues to pitch well as she has a record of 5-4, with a 3.03 ERA in 74 innings, seven complete games and 69 strikeouts.

Noting the Battlers: Alderson Broaddus started last week strong, on Tuesday, by sweeping West Liberty at home. The Battlers struggled over the weekend, when they traveled to Fairmont State and Frostburg State and lost all four games. AB was outscored 40-19 over those two doubleheaders. Already this season, Alderson Broaddus has been shutout seven times.
 
Lawson Gerland leads the team with a .261 average, in just 23 at bats. Only four Battlers are hitting .250, or better, and the team batting average sits at .219. Breonna Marietta leads the team with four home runs, 12 RBI, 25 total bases and a .543 slugging percentage. Meadow Uncapher leads the pitching staff in ERA (5.55), while Amber Corley has the team lead in walks-and-hits per innings pitched (WHIP) (1.80), innings pitched (51) and strikeouts (40).

Noting the Senators: Davis & Elkins has not had an easy schedule to start this season, as all 26 games have been played on the road. Last week, D&E went 1-5, after being swept by both Frostburg State and Glenville State and splitting a doubleheader with Concord. Against CU and GSU, the Senators combined to score just three runs and got shutout in three of the four games.
 
Linzey Allard is the only Senator hitting over .300, and she is currently hitting .372. Allard also leads the team with a .417 on-base percentage, .488 slugging percentage, .905 on-base-plus-slugging percentage, 32 hits, 42 total bases and is tied for the team lead with five doubles and 15 RBI. Nobody else on the team is hitting above .283. Sharon Morales has already stolen 13 bases. Only three players have pitched for D&E. Vanessa Hunt has thrown 74.1 innings, with two saves, seven complete games, 33 strikeouts and an ERA of 4.99.
 
Noting the Bobcats: West Virginia Wesleyan is on a six-game winning streak. They have also played their entire season so far either on the road or at a neutral site. Last week, Wesleyan lost its only conference game this season to Fairmont State, but still put together a record of 7-1. Six of the Bobcats' seven wins last week were shutouts. Over the weekend, they combined to outscore Glenville State and Concord, 22-0.
 
Kendall Stoffel was named co-MEC Pitcher of the Week. She went 3-0 last week in the circle while pitching two complete games with wins over Frostburg State, Glenville State and Concord. In total she pitched 19 innings with 15 strikeouts. Stoffel allowed no runs with just six hits given up. She also pitched a seven-inning complete game one-hitter.
 
This season, WVWC has recorded 10 shutouts, which leads the MEC and ranks eighth in NCAA Division II. The team also leads the conference and ranks 28th in the country with an ERA of 2.18. The two headed monster of Kendall Stoffel and Hannah Hudson have dominated the pitcher's circle. Stoffel is ninth in the country with 3.74 hits allowed per seven innings and Hudson is 18th in D2 with four shutouts. Stoffel has a 1.21 ERA, a 0.91 WHIP, nine wins, three shutouts, 58 strikeouts and a .151 opponent batting average. Hudson has a 1.63 ERA, a 1.11 WHIP, eight wins, 75 strikeouts. The Bobcats' offense has not been bad either as they have five hitters sitting above .300. Andie Dizon is hitting .372, with 11 RBI and 23 total bases. Morgan Norris is hitting .324 and leads the team with three triples, two homers, 21 RBI and 42 RBI.