This Week: Notre Dame College softball is the three seed in the North Division and will play the two seed from the South, Glenville State University, on May 1, at 8 p.m. The tournament will take place at the Botetourt Sports Complex in Troutville, Va.
 
MEC Tournament: In the double-elimination style tournament, the Falcons will be moving on to Thursday, regardless of Wednesday's outcome. The winner of the NDC-GSU matchup will play at noon, on May 2, against the winner of the Fairmont State-Concord matchup. The loser of the NDC-GSU game will play the loser of the Fairmont State-Concord matchup, on May 2 at 2:30 p.m.
 
Tournament Information: For more information, and to buy tickets, click here.

Records: After winning 31 games last season, Notre Dame finished the 2024 regular season with a record of 33-22, while going 14-14 in MEC play and taking third place in the North Division. Glenville State took second place in the South Division, putting together a record of 25-18, while going 17-13 in the MEC. The other teams in the tournament from the North include one seed Fairmont State (39-11, 22-6 MEC), two seed Frostburg State (29-18, 20-8 MEC) and four seed West Liberty (18-32, 11-17 MEC). The other opponents from the South include one seed, and No. 11 ranked nationally, Charleston (41-4, 27-3 MEC), three seed Davis & Elkins (27-24, 14-16 MEC) and four seed Concord (27-25, 13-17 MEC).

Coaches Corner: Kelsey Stopp is now in her sixth season as head coach of the Falcons. She has a coaching record of 125-140 (69-85 MEC).

Rankings: Neither NDC, nor Glenville State, are ranked nationally. Charleston is currently 11th in the National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA) Division II top 25 poll. In the NCAA Division II Regional Polls, Charleston is second in the Atlantic Region, Glenville State is No. 7 and Fairmont State is No. 9. The top eight from the Atlantic Region earn a bid into the NCAA Regional Tournament.

Series History: Notre Dame holds a slim 11-9 advantage over Glenville State all-time, since the two teams first met in 2014. Lately, the series has been very tightly contested. The Falcons and Pioneers split a doubleheader in 2022 and then NDC swept Glenville in 2023. This year, in Glenville, W.Va., the Pioneers won both games (5-2, 2-1) on April 20. These two teams have never faced each other in the MEC Tournament.
 
Noting the Falcons: Notre Dame has broken the program's Division II era wins record by finishing the season with 33 wins, the most wins in a season since 2009. The Falcons have now won more than 30 games in back-to-back seasons.
 
Last week, Notre Dame did what they needed to do and clinched the three seed in the North Division by winning two games against Wheeling University and beating West Liberty University, twice. Grace Fisher was named MEC Pitcher of the Week in the final week of the regular season. Along with her 21 strikeouts, Fisher only allowed four hits and walked one in two starts. Against Wheeling, on April 26, Fisher and senior Chloe Vance combined for a shutout. Fisher threw six innings, allowing three hits while striking out 12. On Saturday, against West Liberty, Fisher had a no-hitter going through 5 2/3 innings. She allowed one hit in the complete game shutout, while striking out nine. Jocelyn Quior had a very good week at the plate. She went 7-for-10, with three runs scored, eight RBI and two doubles. She drove in three runs in two different games last week.
 
NDC and Glenville State saw each other less than two weeks ago, on April 20. On that day in Glenville, NDC took a 2-0 lead in game one on All-MEC First Team pitcher Holly Brehm. Meadow Odum hit an RBI double and Jocelyn Quior drove in a second run. Glenville State then scored four in the fifth inning and one in the sixth for a 5-2 win. In game two, an RBI single by Danielle Fick tied the game at one in the fourth, but GSU would win the game, 2-1. NDC's pitcher Allison Weilnau allowed just one earned run in the second game of the day.

Grace Fisher and Katelyn DeWeese were both named to the All-MEC Second Team after the season. Fisher currently has a record of 16-10, an ERA of 3.37 with 17 complete games. In 165 2/3 innings in the circle, she has taken over the program record in single-season strikeouts with 174 and she is one shutout away from tying the program record of seven in a season. Right now, her six shutouts rank 25th among pitchers across NCAA Division II. This season, she has reached double-digit strikeouts in four separate games and has thrown two one-hitters in the last three weeks.
 
DeWeese leads the team with 52 hits, 46 runs scored, six triples, 33 walks, 28 stolen bases and a .441 on-base percentage and she ranks 16th in D2 with her six triples. DeWeese is also second on the team with a .319 batting average, 74 total bases and is third with 10 doubles. One of only two Falcons to play and start all 55 games, she has a fielding percentage of .975. The Falcons' leadoff hitter has had 11 multi-hit games this year and three games with multiple stolen bases. She became the program leader in career stolen bases and the senior needs one more triple to tie the single-season record in that category.