This Week: After a week away, Notre Dame College returns home for two games against Wheeling University, on April 26, at 2 and 4 p.m. The next day, on April 27, NDC will face West Liberty University, with first pitches at 1 and 3 p.m.
 
Student-Athlete/Senior Recognition: This weekend, all of the student-athletes will be recognized. Prior to the games on Friday, the softball program will honor its non-seniors and then on Saturday, the seniors (Mia Cipriano, Katelyn DeWeese, Meadow Odum, Madison Olszewski, Chloe Vance) will walk around the bases.

Records: Notre Dame is currently 29-22 on the season, looking for its second consecutive 30-win season. The Falcons are 10-14 in conference play, sitting in fourth place in the North Division, one game behind West Liberty. The top four teams from the North Division and the top four from the South Division qualify for the Mountain East Conference Tournament. West Liberty is currently 17-29, overall, but hold an 11-15 mark against MEC foes. Wheeling enters the last weekend of the season with a 9-41 record (4-22 MEC).

Coaches Corner: Kelsey Stopp is in her sixth season as the head coach at NDC, leading the Falcons to a record of 121-140 (65-85 MEC). Mallory Chapman is in her first season as head coach at Wheeling, after spending three years on staff as an assistant coach. Sara Pelegreen is in year number one at West Liberty after spending four seasons at Wheeling.

Rankings: None of these teams are ranked in the National Fastpitch Coaches Association Division II top 25 poll.
 
Series History: The Falcons have gone 19-22 all-time versus Wheeling, since 2013. However, Notre Dame has won the last six matchups, scoring at least six runs in all of those games. On March 17, NDC swept Wheeling by scores of 6-2 and 9-1. Notre Dame has gone 20-19 versus West Liberty since 2014. NDC won the first 10 matchups between the two teams, but West Liberty has evened up the series, recently. Back on March 16, the Hilltoppers won both games against the Falcons, 6-5 and 2-1.

Noting the Falcons: Notre Dame went 3-3 last week. The Falcons swept Salem University (4-3 and 10-1), lost two against Glenville State (5-2 and 2-1) and then split a doubleheader with Concord, winning game one, 4-3 and then lost 8-6 in game two. Both of those games against Concord went to extra innings. Mia Cipriano went 5-for-7 at the plate last week and 4-for-4 as a pinch hitter with three go-ahead hits. Meadow Odum also had another good week, hitting safely in all six games, totaling nine hits, with two multi-hit games. She also had two doubles and a triple.
 
Odum now leads the team with a .331 batting average, 12 doubles, four home runs, 76 total bases and .571 slugging percentage. Her 12 doubles ranks fifth in the MEC. Cipriano is now second on the squad with a batting average of .317. In just 63 at bats, she is tied for second on the team with three homers. Avery Robinson (.309), Katelyn DeWeese (.309) and Destany Blake (.303) are also hitting over .300. Blake and DeWeese both lead the Falcons with 47 hits, each, and DeWeese leads the team with a .431 on base percentage. DeWeese has six triples on the season, the most by a Falcon since 2011 and one away from tying the single-season program record. She is also second in program history with 26 stolen bases in one campaign, which ranks fifth in the MEC in 2024. She is the career leader at NDC in stolen bases with 45. As a team, the Falcons are 13th in NCAA Division II with 18 triples and DeWeese is 13th by herself with six. Against just the conference opponents this season, Robinson is hitting .342, Odum is at .338, Alyssa Wahl is hitting .324 and DeWeese is batting .312.
 
Fisher is fourth in program history in career strikeouts (294), in just her second season. This year, she has struck out 153, which is the second most in program history and just 16 away from the program record. Her 153 Ks also ranks fifth in the MEC this season. In 2024, she has won 14 games, going the distance in 16 complete games and five shutouts in 152 2/3 innings. Allison Weilnau is eighth in program history with 239 career strikeouts. This season, she has 72 strikeouts, 11 wins and 11 complete games in 136 1/3 innings.

Noting the Cardinals: Wheeling has gone 1-7 in its last eight games. Last week, the Cardinals split a doubleheader with West Liberty, with a 5-4 win in eight innings in game one and a 7-1 loss in game two. WU then dropped two games against Frostburg State (8-7 and 12-1) and lost two games against Fairmont State (4-3 and 8-5).
 
Cassie Feyh (.322) and Chyla Miller (.303) are both hitting over .300. Feyh has 47 hits and leads everyone else on the team by 13. She also has 12 doubles, 24 RBI and 65 total bases, with a slugging percentage of .445. Madison Kay is at the top of the team with five homers. As a team, the Cardinals are hitting .243. The pitching has been an issue this season for WU. As a staff, the Cardinals have an ERA of 9.98. Ryleigh Peters has thrown 16 complete games and struck out 55 in 122 1/3 innings in the circle.
 
Noting the Hilltoppers: West Liberty had a 2-4 record in six games last week. The Hilltoppers lost by a score of 5-4 in game one to Wheeling and then bounced back with a 7-1 win in game two. Over the weekend, WLU had trouble getting the bats going against Fairmont State and lost 4-0 and then 4-3. In a tough matchup with Frostburg State, West Liberty lost the first game, 5-1, before picking up an important 6-5 win in game two.
 
Jaden Conrad leads the Hilltoppers with a .376 batting average, while Kayla Mancuso (.346), Sara Simon (.344) and Sydney Johnson (.310) are all hitting over .300. Conrad has a team-high 47 hits, nine home runs, a .448 on base percentage and a .528 slugging percentage, to go along with seven doubles. Sara Simon leads the team with nine doubles and Mallory Rosnick also has four homers. Kayla Mancuso leads WLU with 13 stolen bags. Kadence Pettit has a 3.53 ERA, nine wins, 10 complete games and 78 strikeouts in 112 1/3 innings pitched.