The conversation between Alex, Britt, and Coach Megan Smith Lyon paints a vivid picture of the emotional journey she has taken to return to her alma mater and lead the UNC softball program. Her deep respect for Coach Papa and the responsibility she feels in taking over the program are palpable, demonstrating her commitment to upholding the traditions and values of Carolina softball.

Coach Smith Lyon's emphasis on building genuine relationships with her players, seeing them as individuals beyond their roles on the field, speaks volumes about her approach to coaching. By prioritizing personal connections, she fosters a supportive and inclusive team environment where players can thrive both athletically and personally.

The support of Carolina softball alumni further underscores Coach Smith Lyon's impact and legacy within the program. Their backing reflects not only her coaching abilities but also the profound influence she has had on past players, creating a tight-knit community that extends beyond the field.

The offensive success of the team under Coach Smith Lyon's leadership, coupled with Corey Lyon's contributions in building player confidence and individualized coaching, highlights the comprehensive approach taken to elevate the program's performance.

Ultimately, Coach Megan Smith Lyon's return to Chapel Hill symbolizes a homecoming filled with emotion, love, and a deep sense of belonging. Her passion for the university and dedication to its softball program shine through, affirming her as the perfect leader to guide Carolina softball into the future.

Episode 7 Week 6 of Season

Duke (22-2, 5-1) v Florida State (18-8, 1-2)

• Duke took game 1 on Friday night, 10-5
• Florida State responded taking game 2 on Saturday, evening the series
• Chess match Sunday- Duke won 9-5 in extras (8) scoring 4 runs in the top of the 8th 
• This was the first series win against Florida State for Duke
• Highlights-
• Game 1- Duke came out swinging
• Claire Davidson so good…. just a double shy of the cycle on Friday night
• HR, 3B, 1B
• Jala Wright looked legit in the circle- shut down the Nole offense so well- making them swing at pitches outside of the zone
• Game 2- Makenna Reid- best outing I have seen from her… and possibly even a FSU pitcher all season long
• questionable pitching change…duke got some momentum and runs
• Game 3- Duke leaned into the short game… was beating the Florida State defense with bunt after bunt, ran the bases really well, too, just applying pressure on FSU to have to make the plays

North Carolina (20-7, 2-4) v Clemson (20-6, 4-1)

• Cagle not playing this weekend- sick 
• Clemson won the series opener 5-0
• Clemson secured the series, winning game 2… 4-1
• 
  
• Game 3 9-1 (5)
• UNC plays with a lot of emotion, and that can be good or bad. They didn’t have much to be excited about and I think they couldn’t find that excitement to try to comeback. Game 3 Pitchers getting pulled//and no high fives in the dugout
• 
  
• Clemson-Alex Brown went off on her former team 5-10 with a couple HR’s. Looking good in that leadoff spot that we are so accustomed to seeing McKenzie Clark in

Notre Dame (16-10, 2-4) v Georgia Tech (19-10, 7-2)

• Georgia Tech took game 1 against the Fighting Irish 7-5
• Notre Dame came back and won game 6-3, tying the series
• 
  
• Notre Dame took the series on Sunday beating the Yellow Jackets 6-5
• Highlights
• Game 1- Emma Minghini hit a 2 run HR walk off (2-2 count; 2 outs) 
• what dreams are made of
• Game 2- Karina Gaskins had the clutch 2 RBI double on Saturday to push ND ahead 4-3- they ended up keeping the lead and closing it out to win game 2;
• Down 3-0 in T7, literally 1 out away form losing the game. scored 4 runs with 2 outs
• Addison Amaral also had a 2 run HR to put ND up by 3 (hitting behind Gaskins) Gaskins only walked one time that game. seeing some protection
• Game 3- good back and forth battle throughout the game, some clutch hitting from ND, doubles, 2 run RBI singles… really got the offense going for ND to get the victory. the 4th, 5th & 6th inning were nuts!
• Alexis Laudenslager P, for ND really stepped up in the 2 wins. Threw 10 ⅔ innings. Game 2 win, Started in game 3, and Miceala Kastor came in and finished up. 
• Tough to pitch against GT and they had a nice 1 2 punch in the circle
• GT exposed possibly with trouble with change/off speed. I think that wil be a big focus in practice this week for sure. 
• Mallorie Black for Georgia Tech hit 2 HRs in Sunday’s game 3
• Black is now tied for 1st place in the ACC for homeruns
• GT faced UGA in midweek-- “you have to detach from the outcome to be invested in the process.” -AMO
• they faced Lillli Baccus (UNC transfer) and again looked off balance on change ups

Pitt (8-18, 0-6) v Virginia Tech (24-4-, 9-0)

• Hokies won game 1…. 18-0
• VT secured the series winning game 2… 8-4
• Better fight from Pitt
• Game 3 on Sunday…. VT getting the sweep, beating Pitt 9-0, in 5 innings 
• 
  
• 12 HR’s on the weekend
• Mid week game last week- VT loss to Charlotte midweek

Syracuse (13-11, 1-5)  v Virginia (17-9, 5-4)

• Syracuse beat UVA on Friday 6-1
• Madison Knight 7ip, 1 run, 3 hits--hits to only 1 & 2 in the lineup (Hylton and Bella Cabral) no one else could touch her
• Virginia came back and evened the series, winning game 2… 2-1
• Leah Boggs 2 run HR the difference
• Got the win without Bigam in the circle- Julia Cuozzo and Courtney Lane combined in the circle
• Virginia won game 3, beating the Orange 7-2
• 
  
• scored 6 runs in first 2 innings
• Julia Cuozzo with the w and Bigham came in for last 3 to get the save

NC State (playing in the Garnet & Black Invitational) (18-9, 1-5)

• Beat Northwestern 1-0 on Friday
• Only 1 h but State, but solo shot by Amanda Hasler was all they needed
• Madison Inscoe went the distance for State
• got out of some jams, showed toughness on defense. NW left 7 runners on
• Beat Michigan State 3-1
• Lost to Minnesota on Saturday 14-4
• Played South Carolina on Sunday, beat the Gamecocks 4-0
• 
  
• Great response after getting smashed by Minnesota
• 
  
• Madison Inscoe once again threw all 7, 2h, 1k, 0BB--solid defense
• 
  
• scored 1 run t1 and then added insurance top 7
• Highlights
• 2nd top 25 win this season
• 3rd ranked road win in program history
• 4th shutout of the season
• Amanda Hasler tallied her 8th bomb of the season

Boston College (playing in the Eagle Round Robin tourney) (17-8, 1-2)

• Beat Holy Cross on Friday 3-2
• Beat Iona 3-0 on Saturday
• Beat Iona again on Sunday 9-1 in 5 innings
• and beat Quinnipiac on Sunday 5-0
• Highlights
• Abby Dunning threw a complete game no hitter, 1 BB, 7 Ks
• Dunning also reached the 300 strikeout mark

Louisville

• Played South Dakota on Thursday, won 8-5
• Played Illinois on Friday- lost 6-0
• Louisville beat Michigan on Saturday, 12-4, run ruling them in 5
• Played Illinois again on Sunday… beat them 5-4
• great job making adjustments getting to play them again, hard fought game
• Highlights-
• Late inning runs pushed the cardinals to a win on Thursday night
• Clutch BIG swings…. bases clearing triple by Paige Geraghty, HRs by Gabby Holloway (a couple) and Riley Frizell helping the Cards secure their wins all weekend
• Daisey Hess (5th year), Chelsea Mack (soph/Kentucky), Riley Frizzel (Senior/MIzzou), Paige Geraghty (Junior/played fresh yr at auburn)--all having solid seasons at the plate

RPI

#6 Clemson ( prev 11)

#13 VT (5)

#19 Duke (23)

#23 FSU (24)

#36 Louisville (42)

#46 NC State (60)

Looking ahead

SC @ Clemson- Wednesday

Texas @ Florida State Wednesday on the network

VT @ Alabama - friday

ACC Matchups

Syracuse at BC

NC State at ND

GT at UNC

Clemson at UVA

Duke at Louisville

FSU at Pitt

ACC in RPI

VT- 5 SOS 7

Clemson 14 SOS 16

Duke- 20 SOS 136

FSU- 25

UVA- 40

UL-41

GT 42

NC St- 57

ND-61

UNC- 68

Virginia Tech (18-3-1, 6-0) vs Louisville (16-8, 0-3)

VT #3 in country with 44 HR’s

• Swept Louisville IN Louisville
• Louisville coming off of an impressive W vs Arizona on Tuesday of last week
• 5-3 victory, couple HR’s from Vanessa Miller and Bailee Richardson
• Alyssa Zabala went 7 complete, scattered 3 runs, 5 k’s, 11GB’s

Game 1 (DH on Saturday)

• VT 11-1
• Lindsay Grein in the circle, just 1 hit 0 ER in 5IP
• Alyssa Zabala (10-2) only made it 1.2 IP… 
• Surprising no HR’s or xtra base hits w/ 11 hits, showing VT can win in other ways

Game 2 10 innings! -- crazy how same teams can play, same day, and turn around and a completely diff game

• 5-2 VT
• All VT runs were from HR’s
• solos by Bre Peck, Emma Ritter & 3run shot by Cori McMillan in top 10th to go ahead
• Mazzarone  started- 5.1 IP, 4h, 2 r (none earned)
• Lemley in relief went 4.2-- 0 ER, 0 BB & 11 K’s
• Louisville didn’t score an earned run on the day, putting pressure on defense to make mistakes, but have to find some ownership of scoring their own runs
• VT committed 2 errors in each game

Game 3

• 4-3 VT
• Late inning comeback run from Louisville, cut short
• Scored all 3 ER’s off Lemly in her relief in the 6&7th but still came up one run short
• VT threw Grein, Mazzarone and Lemley
• Huge advantage to be able to pitch by committee in game 3

UNC (19-4, 2-1)  vs Virginia (15-7, 3-3)

• UNC’s Sanaa Thompson .557 and Alex Coleman .556 #1  in country in BA
• .400 team BA is #2 in country behind Texas at .401
• #1 in country in SB at 75 (2nd place is IU at 62)
• Virginia’s Madison Harris is #4 in the country in ERA with a .31 earned run average

Game 1, 0-3 Virginia

• Eden Bigham continues to show us she is the real deal
• 7IP, 3BB, 6K’s 0 runs, against the top offensive team coming into the weekend
• UVA offense same names leading the way Jade Hylton and Leah Boggs

Game 2, 4-1 UNC (DH)

• Alex Coleman, Sanaa Thompson and Abby Settlemyer with multi hit games
• Lead off Coleman, as she goes this team goes. 
• UVA pitch by committee
• UNC’s Kenna Raye Dark, faced just 3 above the minimum-- not overpowering, no strikeouts or walks--she lets teams put it in play and if defense is solid behind her she can put her team in a position to win. 

Game 3 (DH) 6-1

• UNC’s offense opened up- Alex Colman 2-3, HR’s by Sanna Thompson and Autumn Owen
• Eden Bigham did get the start, gave up 6 BB’s 
• Britton Rogers looked solid for UNC, i think fatigue started to be an issues in late innings saw BB’s go up and had to be relieved in the 7th

UNC’s defense looked solid

NC State (14-8, 1-5) vs GT (18-7, 6-0)

-GT #2 in country with 48 HR’s

-Matched last season's HR total (48 HR’s in 53 games), current 48 HR’s in 25 games.

-GT didn’t commit an error on the weekend

-T3 in country in double plays with 15- defense secures championships

Game 1, 4-1 GT 11 innings

• GT Sophia Voyles looked great in the circle
• No hitter until the 7th, and Taylor Ensley hit solo shot to tie it
• GT defense was big this game, 0 errors, closing doors of potential rallies
• NC State 4 errors
• Inscoe and Weixleman held their own in the circle, but the depth of the pitching is concerning
• But both teams showed fight

Game 2 , 8-1, GT

GT

• Mal Black 5 rbi, including a Grand Slam
• Neleman and Dennis combine for 1 run, 2 hits -- We like this combo

Game 3, 10-2, 5inn GT

• GT timely hitting- 6 players with RBI’s, 4 with 2 RBIs
• Sophia Voyles started, only made through 2 innings- gave up 2 runs
• Chandler Dennis coming in relief again, 1h 0 runs--looking really good in this relief role

Clemson (17-6) had Tenn (L), and a DH with Minnesota this week (split w/ Minn), W’s vs Mercer, Longwood, Fordham

Vs Tenn, 1-2

• Cagle went 9 IP, 10 k’s, 
• 9th inning 2 out BB and then a double for Tenn to take the lead
• Clemson left 7 runners on
• Depth on Clemson, no pinch hitters and DH JoJo Hyatt had only gotten 1 hit on the season coming into this game (1-23)
• 3rd time Clemson has lost by 1 run to Tenn

Vs Minn split - G1, 3-5 (9inning) G2, 3-1

• My big take away…is Clemson pressing, example-
• Game 1, Bottom of 9th down by 2 w/ runner on 1st and 1 out
• Clark tries to sneaky bunt her way on and is thrown out
• Game 2, - bottom of 7th, runner on, 1 out
• Clark hits walk off HR
• Go on to W 3 more outsourcing opponents 28-3

Duke 2 (19-1, 3-0)  wins vs Elon & SDSU DH

• Still only the 1 loss of the year, coming in their 1st game this season vs Oklahoma
• 14 shutouts on the season, has not allowed a single run in the month of march
• 159-15, .73 ERA, .980 field %, 
• Jala Wright #5 in country w/ .32 ERA
• Cassidy Curd still #3 in the country for strikeouts per 7 innings- 11.7
• Team ERA .73 top in the country
• .359 BA 5th in country
• .980 field % 11th in country/top in ACC

FSU (15-5)

• 4-1 on the weekend, 2 W’s over Purdue, W Michigan and FGCU
• Amaya Ross is #4 in the country for runs scored per game with 1.45
• Playing from behind
• Vs Purdue, Purdue put 3 runs T1
• Down 3-0 until scoring 1 in the 6th in Loss vs FGCU
• Vs Purdue, down 6-1 after 1st (went on to score 15 runs and win 15-9)
• Vs FGCU down 4-0 after 1st (went on to score 13 and win 13-6)
• From this past weekend- team #s
• Makenna Reid- 2-0 on the weekend in Fort Myers
• 18 for 19 on stolen bases
• Finding ways to get in scoring position other than by hits…
• Always been a solid base running team
• 10 HRs on the weekend 
• 43 runs scored
• Royalty leads team in IP with 37.1 and has given up 21 runs but only 11 earned
• FSU pitching by the numbers…. Team totals
• FSU- 130IP, 125 H, 90 R, 61 BBs, 100 Ks
• Duke- 125IP, 66 H, 15 R, 29 BBs, 149 Ks
• Duke has given up ½ the amount of hits, ⅙ the amount of runs, and ½ the amount of BBs, while having…. 50% ?? more strikeouts than FSU
• Clemson (3 more games played than the others)- 157 IP, 139 H, 58 Rs, 35 BBs, 140 Ks
• Clemson has also given up a lot of hits, almost 1 hit an inning but has given up ½ the runs and ½ the walks while adding another 40% more strikeouts than FSU

Pitt (8-14)

• Also played in the FGCU tournament alongside Florida State but the two teams did not play against each other
• Lost to Purdue, lost to Western Michigan on Friday; came back to win against both of those teams on Saturday, then lost to FGCU on Sunday
• Looking for consistency
• Cameron Compson- 3 for 3 with 3 HRs against Purdue
• Grandslam, 1 run HR, 2 run HR (7RBI)

Syracuse

• Last played against Duke on March 3; played 8 days later against Le Moyne & Norfolk state (yesterday) and run ruled both, also play another double header today against Norfolk State and Quinnipiac 
• Interesting scheduling
• Rebecca Clyde looking good for the Orange; a couple HRs and several RBIs yesterday
• Taylor Posner also with a long ball and a few RBI on a timely single late in the game put the run rule into effect…
• Syracuse outscored opponents 20-1 in the first 2 games of their tournament in Norfolk

BC

• A lot of scheduling mishaps for the Eagles last week, 3 of their games ended up getting canceled, they beat George Washington University on Tuesday
• Split with Maryland, lost game 2 in extras
• Good showing against B1G
• Abby Dunning still showing off in the circle
• Nicole Giery looking good for BC offense

ND

• Karina Gaskins holds the top spot for on base percentage in the country with a .654 percentage of getting on base
• ACC holds 3 of the 5 top spots for OBP
• Karina Gaskins makes Notre Dame history with the most walks in a career with 121, also hit a HR this weekend
• 30 bbs this season for Gaskins, the next highest on the team is 10 (Kronenberger) 
• Went 4 and 1 on the weekend in West Virginia
• Beat Indiana State twice, Marshall, and Ball State and also lost a game to Ball State
• Jane Kronenberger hit a few HRs on the weekend 
• Addison Amaral had some timely hits as well on the weekend securing a run rule against Ball State

Looking ahead

Midweeks

• Wednesday
• FSU vs Bama 
• GT @ Georgia

Conference

• Duke @ FSU
• UNC @ Clemson
• ND @ GT
• Syracuse @ Virginia
• Pitt @ VT
• BC, Louisville, NC State OOC

We are excited and honored to have Duke Softball head coach Marissa Young, joining us. Coach Young was a former 3x All American pitcher at the University of Michigan, big 10 Pitcher of the year and Big10 Player of the year.. No stranger to success as a player she has now found that success as a head coach. In July 2015, coach young was named the 1st head coach of Duke softball and tasked with building the first ever softball program at Duke. The inaugural season was 2018, and after just 2 complete seasons Duke secures first ACC championship in 2021 and makes first postseason (named ACC coach of year), and then continues to take the next step each year ( 2022 first super regional, 2023 hosted super regionals).

What we talk about...

1. Coach Young talks her goals when she stepped foot on campus, and how they have continued to achieve new levels of success each year.

2. Coach Young talks building and maintaining a team that can literally do it all consistently at a high level.

1 loss (to OU) , outscoring opponents 159-15,14 shutouts, .73 ERA, .980 field %,

Duke can pitch, hit, field & baserun at an elite level.

3. Coach Young speaks on the this teams identity.

4. Additions of new coaches

5. Discussion on Jala Wright's senior campaign & confidence

Jala Wright-

43.2 IP, .32 ERA, 57K’s, 6BB, 2 runs!

2 xs ACC pitcher of the week

6. This senior class

Returning the core of the team from last season, Coach discusses the impact that the seniors- (Kelly Torres, Claire Davidson, Francesca Frelick, Jala Wright, Lillie Walker, Sarah Godard, Dani Drugmueller) have had on the program

7. Focus in practice this week w/ Liberty and FSU coming up

8. Hosting ACC Tournament & new scoreboard

9. Keepin it going

Episode 5- Opening weekend of ACC Conference Play

First week of ACC MatchUps

Reminder: not EVERY team played conference this weekend, some are still trying to get a few more out of conference games in on their schedule

1st RPI of the season was released!

Rating Percentage Index

Different than rankings you have been seeing each week

RPI is a mathematical formula that takes in to consideration:

Winning percentage

Strength of schedule (opponents winning percentage)

Opponents strength of schedule

This is a major tool that the selection committee uses to seed teams in postseason

Desired changes to RPI?

come selection show you want to be in top 40

Conference RPI

1. SEC 2. PAC12 3. BIG 12 4. ACC 5. AAC 6. BIG10

Team RPI

#6 Clemson

#11 VT

#20 Duke-

#30 FSU

#32 NC State

#35 Virginia-

Mid-week updates

Clemson fell to UGA (#5 / #3) 2-1 on Wednesday night last week

11 Clemson players getting playing time

16 Bulldogs getting in the lineup

3 UGA pitchers used (all averaging about 2 innings) - could depth be what allowed Georgia to win?

13 LOB for Clemson vs Georgia

ACC Play-

Strategy

Information

Execution

-Duke vs Syracuse- at Duke Softball Stadium

DH Saturday- 3 GAMES IN 24 HOURS; thoughts on playing double headers?

Duke won the first two games 7-0; 6-0

Jala Wright reaches career milestone- 300 career strikeouts

2-0 on the weekend, 10 innings pitched

Shut out sweep of Syracuse

5 diff pitchers= 0 runs

0 errors on the weekend

Cassidy Curd #1 in country with K’s per 7 innings w/ 12.5

-

Clemson vs NC State- at Clemson— did we learn more about Clemson or NC state?!

Clemson drops GAME 1 to NC STATE 6-1

Surprised Cagle didn’t start…

games pushed to DH on Saturday

3 GAMES IN A 24 HOUR TIME SPAN

Game 1 NC State: had short leash on Madison Inscoe in Game 1 of the series… 1 inning and then only 1 batter faced in the second

Alisha Weixlmann came in and closed it out with 6 shutout innings

Weixlmann last year vs Clemson, beat them giving up just 1 hit

Clemson Secured game 2 victory 8-0, Valerie Cagle 5.0ip, 1 h

Game 3

NC state early lead 5-0--Clemson 3 errors in T1

4 Homeruns in Game 3- by 4 different players

Alia Logoleo stays hot… swinging a powerful bat right now

Clemson scored 8 unanswered then NC state responds T3 to take 9-8 lead

Cagle goes 2.1 IP, 9r, 7er, 6h,

-VT vs Notre Dame

VT went on to sweep Notre Dame outsourcing the Irish 29-9

Saturday DH

ANOTHER 3 GAMES PLAYED IN A 24 HOUR TIME SPAN

VT hit 8 HR’s on HR’s DH vs ND. 40 HR’s through 19 games

Fr Emma Mazzarone 0ER, Emma Lemly 0 ER- pitchers looking legit

Sunday

Lindsey Grein w/ the start

VT had timely hitting game 3… Notre Dame actually outhit VT but VT executed when they had runners in scoring position

Maija Louko; pinch hitter, hit a grand slam in the 5th, shutting the door for any other potential comeback for ND

VT #3 in country with 40

ND Karina Gaskins #1 in country with BB/Game 1.5--teams not letting their best player beat them

-GT vs Pitt

GT had their first ever run rule sweep of an ACC opponent in program history

run ruled Pitt in all 3 games of the series; out-scoring Pitt 32-6

11 game winning streak for the Yellow Jackets right now

GT- 43 HR’s… #2 in country- #1 in the power 5 conferences

Madison Dobbins- first player in ACC to reach 30 RBI this season

Mallorie Black- 18 game on base streak… stays consistent

-Virginia vs BC

Virginia lost the 1st game on Friday, came back to get the next two wins..

Game 1 was a pitchers duel

Abby Dunning for BC is legit..her rise ball that runs in to righties is a filthy pitch when it’s on

Bigham (UVA) rise and change were on point

Get this…only 2 hits on the afternoon; between BOTH teams!

Game 2- Virginia used 4 different pitchers..

6 errors between the two teams. BC with 4

Sunday- Virginia won 1-0

Hylton singled to left center, Boggs scored the only run in the game

-Florida State

Trip to Oregon canceled…didn’t play Oregon or Washington

2 wins vs Nicholls on Saturday; first W on Saturday- 5-4

game vs Jacksonville (6-11)- FSU loses 5-6

fell behind 6-2 in 1st

JU scored all 6 runs with 2 outs

4 BB and 2 hits 3 runs for Royalty, Danley comes in

Danley gives up a bases loaded double

-UNC

5-1 on the week; a couple wins against NCCU, Oakland, Rider, Lafayette & Campbell

only gave up 1 run in their 5 victories…

Shut out by Rutgers 4-0

UNC leads the country with a .417 BA- last year they hit .275

71 stolen bases on the year so far, last year they had 70 on the whole year

Louisville-

3 - 3 on the week

played in the South Florida tournament

extra innings win vs Georgia Southern

Louisville- looking for consistency?

Look aheads for this week….

Clemson has Tennessee on Tuesday, March 5; 6pm ET at home

Game time changed to 2pm for weather; Clemson lost 2-1 in 9 inn

Clemson has a DH vs Minnesota on Thursday, March 7th at home

VT and Louisville series this weekend (@ Louisville)

Virginia and UNC series this weekend (@ Chapel Hill)

NC State vs GT (@ Raleigh)

Spring Break tourneys for the rest of the conference

Welcome to Episode 4 of Up the Coast with Alex & Britt

• Duke- the only ACC team with 1 loss
• UNC, Louisville & Clemson are next with only 2 losses

National notes: These #s were updated at the end of last week, before games this past weekend 

• UNC #4 in the country in team batting average- .412 (through Feb 22, 2024)
• Duke #9 in the country in lowest ERA 1.02 (through Feb 22, 2024)
• Duke (#8), Virginia (#13), UNC (#14) all in the top 15 for best fielding percentage across the country (Feb 22, 2024)
• Georgia Tech- LEADING IN HRs after this weekend???!!!! 34

Duke-

• Continues their slug fest, beat Michigan State 22-0
• 2 grand slams, 3 run blast…. SO much power!
• 14 runs in the bottom of the third of a 22-0 win over Michigan State
• Jala had 14ks- career high
• Run ruled Villanova 8-0
• Total team right now- have it in the circle with Jala leading the way- the bats are on absolute fire
• Big inning potential
• 4 DIFFERENT PLAYERS have hit FIVE grand slams this year

Clemson- back on track?

• Exciting games
• beat Charlotte midweek
• Run rule against Ole Miss- a run rule against any SEC team feels good
• Close game- walk off win for Clemson against UCONN
• Actually 3 walk off wins?! 2 were run rule walk off’s…**do you count those?!
• Mid week at Georgia!!!

Florida State-

• Bats continuing to come alive in big moments- a lot of power
• Michaela Edenfield 2 walk off wins (back to back games)- one a come from behind 5-4 win against Nicholls and the other a run rule 8-0 win against Nicholls
• Pitching still in question
• Could the pitching staff be struggling more this year because they don’t have a dominant down ball pitcher? They have historically had at least one pitcher on staff that dominated the lower half of the zone- Lacey Waldrop, Meghan King, Kat Sandercock…. Now- their primary arms are more E to W and up in the zone arms 

Virginia Tech-

• Emma Lemley still looking good in the circle- pull #s of her game against Dartmouth??
• BEAT (#3) GEORGIA on Friday, 5-4
• 2 RBI pinch hit from Trinity Martin
• HOW BIG IS IT TO HAVE HITTERS COME OFF THE BENCH AND COME UP CLUTCH?
• HOW HARD IS IT TO BE A PINCH HITTER?!
• Lemley rise looked legit, one thing that I noticed..she gets ahead early, even 0-2 and then BB. 
• Lyndsey Grein big in the circle for VT to close out the game
• Lost 5-7 against Georgia on Saturday- not a bad game against a great hitting team in UGA
• Was leading the game 3-1 in the bottom of the third 
• UGA came back in the top of the 4th, VT tied it up in the 4th
• Signs of brilliance from VT this weekend…. Should be proud of their performance
• Possible X factor- Emma Mazzarone, fr pitcher. very nice change and throws 69/70mph

UNC-

• Nikki Harris in the circle looks great
• 13ks in her 2nd career start, true freshman, too!!
• Most K’s for a UNC pitcher in a game since 2019
• Loss to Lipscomb 1-0, solo shot in 5th 
• As a team, just 14 HR’s but have scored 101 runs,  stolen 54-59 bases, .508 OB%
• Alex Coleman- .619ba, 14-15 SB
• 6 players hitting over .400
• 3 hitting over .500
• 
  

Georgia Tech-

• 32 runs in 4 games at the Clearwater Tourney
• Lost games in Clearwater but the W/L not reflective of how well GT was playing/ hitting
• HR’s have come from at least 9 different hitters
• Mallorie Black- an absolute killer in the box right now
• Neleman- big for the GT pitching staff
• 
  

NC State-

• a sneaky/quiet 12-3 on the year
• after losing 3 games in first weekend, they have been rolling
• Keep an eye on what they are doing

Louisville-

• had two games canceled this weekend in Conway, SC
• had the loss to Furman, beat Coastal and Bowling Green
• Zabala did not throw against Furman, got CG w vs Coastal and got the W in 2IP 0er vs Bowling green
• Concern over depth in the circle

Boston College-

• playing close, low scoring games--will be beneficial heading into conf play, just learning how to win those games
• Pitching staff lead by Hallie Pappion &  Haley Dunning- the entire pitching staff have only giving up 1 HR in 102 IP combined

Pitt-

• Loss to OSU 1-0, but played really well against one of the best teams in the country
• OSU only scored on a bases loaded BB! Senior pitcher Adriana Romano gave up just 4 hits and 6.2 IP

Virginia-

• Looking solid in the circle
• Madi Harris ties the UVA career saves record with 9
• Eden Bigham sets a career high strikeouts vs Lehigh with 14
• struck out the first 12 batters straight to start the game

Notre Dame-

• Beat #20 Utah at the Mary Nutter Classic (7-1)
• revenge game, ND lost to Utah in clearwater week 1. 
• Lost to a really good Baylor team on a walk off, had 1 run lead into bottom of 7th
• ND had 4 errors that game

Syracuse- 

• went 2-3 on the weekend in Monroe, LA
• Jasso still swinging it, Hendrix good in the circle
• Hendrix is 5-0 on the season, rest of the staff combined is 3-6

ACC Play starts this weekend!!

• NC State at Clemson
• Pitt at GT
• BC at UVA
• ND at VT

Other big matchups

• FSU in Eugene vs Washington, Oregon- CANCELED- FLORIDA STATE looking for games!!
• Clemson at Georgia

Aileen Morales- Georgia Tech Head Coach

BIO

• 7th season at GT
• Inducted into Georgia Tech HOF in 2020
• Previous head coach at Radford, Young Harris

What does it mean to be coaching at your Alma Mater? 

• 27.8% -- Percentage of Georgia Tech softball games that Head Coach Aileen Morales has either played (program record - 265) or coached (300) in: 565 of 2,031 all time games. Was an assistant at GT 2010-2013
• Signed the #7 recruit class for 2024

Scheduling

• Opened the season with 2 games vs Alabama
• Clearwater Tournament
• Stanford, LSU, Minnesota, Northwestern (canceled OSU, Tennessee)
• Couldn’t get a W, but scored 32 runs!

What have you learned about the team so far this season having faced that level of competition and even in general throughout the first 3 weeks?

• Offensive power
• In clearwater --- Stanford (7 runs), LSU (8 runs), Minnesota (11 runs), Northwestern (6 runs) (canceled OSU, Tennessee)

Offense across the country is ELITE right now, why do you think that is?

• DATA!! Visibility!!

GT Power

• Just this week--17 HRs (8 dif players) .498 OB%, Opponent ERA >10
• Overall 34 HR’s, .442 OB%,  .365 team BA, Opponent ERA >7… #1 in the country!!

New coaching staff

• Erin Dixon- pitching from UNCW
• Hunter Bunch - hitting
• Kelsey Bennett- recent grad from VT
• Devon Boland

Any surprises from any athlete so far this year? Exceeding expectations!

• Mallorie Black-- is this offensive output a surprise to you?
• ACC pow
• .476, 7HR,18RBI, 
• In 1st 3 season, hit 10 HR’s total--has already tied her HR total from last year in just 17 games

Blake Neleman

• Has been a workhorse for this program, including this year she has thrown 528 innings -- what has she meant to this team?
• Has some more help around her this year, not just her and Chandler Dennis
• 7 different pitchers have seen work

How has NIL/Transfer Portal effect you and your coaching? Biggest challenges/adaptions

Big Green Egg?!?! Coach NIL deal ;)

Thank you Coach Morales for joining us on Up the Coast with Alex & Britt!

Welcome back to Episode 3 of Up the Coast with Alex & Britt where we dive week 2 of ACC Softball- an absolute hitter’s dream!

RUNS RUNS RUNS..it was an exhausting weekend of watching softball IMO

• Is pitching struggling across the country? Are hitters THAT good? Good for the game? Analytics? 
• 2, 30 run games in clearwater
• PitchCom and pitch clock not going to help if the game continues in this direction

Concerns for Florida State?

• Pitching
• Vs Stanford. Combined shutout w/ Royalty and Danley
• Beat NiJaree Canady
• Vs UCLA, 14 runs, 11BB, 2HBP, 
• 5 pitchers, Danley, Reid, Royalty, Gooden, Wilson
• Vs Georgia, 20 runs, 12 BB, 2 HBP
• Wilson, Danley, Reid, Balk, Gooden
• Could have been worse a 3 run HR was negated for running walking off of 3b early..for no apparent reason/rumor is she did it on purpose to speed up game because of weather. Took HR from freshman
• The offensive production SHOULD be enough to win ball games but obviously we see that’s not how it’s playing out
• Appreciation for Kat Sandercock

Is Duke the best team in the ACC right now?

• One of the few teams in country showing pitching and hitting
• Midweek W vs NDSU 18-0
• Ana Gold- 2 grand slams; 8 RBI vs. North Dakota State
• Kelly Torres- 1 grand slam; 4 RBI vs. North Dakota State
• W’s vs Rutgers, FIU & Army
• Only given up 8 runs this season
• Most runs given up  in 1 games is 3 vs Oklahoma & Iowa State
• 5 shutouts on the season in 9 games
• Ana Gold- reaches 100 hits, 100 RBI, 100 runs scored last week (career)

Clemson

• In Puerto Vallarta
• Big games vs Utah and Auburn canceled- lost to Mississippi State
• No tarp, ran out of turface…quality tournament?
• Cagle 

Virginia Tech

• Vs ASU, solid outing from Emma Lemley
• Lemley 5in CG, only 2bb and 6 ks
• Team hit 2 more HR
• Lost in extra innings vs Cal (ACC 2025 preview)
• No Lemley, 1 HR from Castine…live and die by the long ball
• Run rule loss to Grand Canyon 🥺

UNC

• Swinging it
• Lead the ACC in team batting average (.415)
• Top two hitters in the ACC:
• Alex Coleman .682
• Carsyn Snead .579
• Lost 12-10 in crazy game vs Kentucky
• Can swing it
• W 2-1 vs UCF
• Showed ability to play small ball

GT

• Aggressive at the plate, taking big confident swings, look solid offensively
• Scored 8 runs against LSU, 7 against Stanford
• Mallorie Black- .727 batting average last week
• 1.968 on base percentage 
• Defense is big concern for me, not all errors on paper but not clean
• 11 errors

NC State

• Defense looking solid- a couple wins last weekend
• Double plays
• Sports Center Top 10- Ellie Goins robs a HR (SC #5)

Louisville

• Zabala lights out in the circle
• Zabala shutout Michigan, a 2-0
• Currently 10-1

Current top 5 ranking in ACC?

• Alex & Britt rank their top 5 ACC teams

Looking ahead

• FSU
• Much needed rebuild week? Bring in FIU, Charleston Southern, Nicholls
• Clemson
• Midweek vs Charlotte
• Bring in Ole Miss, UCONN, Miami OH- should win out this week
• Duke
• Bring in Elon, Villanova, Mich St, Boston U*
• VT
• Head to athens, includes 2 games vs Georgia (undefeated beat OSU, UCLA and FSU)
• Keys for VT to beat UGA
• Keep Georgia run production to a minimum- they are absolutely swinging it

Welcome back to Episode 2 of Up the Coast with Alex & Britt where we dive into opening weekend recaps and week 2 look aheads!

Significant wins-

Duke beats #18 Nebraska

Clemson beat #15 Oregon

Virginia Tech beat #20 Auburn in one game, tied in another game

Big losses-

FSU loses to Charlotte on the season opener

Clemson loses to Mizzou

ACC Players of the Week-

Jala Wright- Pitcher of the Week

Rachel Castine- Player of the Week

FSU- (4-1 on the weekend- upset by Charlotte)

Devyn Flaherty passes 200 career hits and breaks into FSU’s top 25 for career hits

Kalei Harding’s weekend- .527 BA, 3 HRs, 11 RBI

Tied the FSU single game RBI record with 7 in one game

Mimi Gooden- complete game shut out for her FSU debut (freshman)

Isa Torres- freshman, walk off hit (2RBI) against Texas Tech

5 different pitchers threw at least 5 innings.

Thoughts on the pitching staff, Alex? Any need for early concern on MaKenna Reid? Any surprises?

Loss to Charlotte & rebound

Duke (3-1 on the weekend)

Claire Davidson & Jala Wright- All Tournament team in Puerto Vallarta

Big win over Nebraska (6-1)

Nebraska ranked #18

Opening game lost 0-3 to Oklahoma

Cass Curd 3 hits 3 runs..not a great weekend for the sophomore. 8BB in 5IP. Another soph struggling in opening weekend

Jala Wright looked great…Danny Drogemuller with 2 starts.

Duke have a complete pitching staff this year?

Clemson (3-1 on the weekend)

Beat Oregon (#15) 3-2

Alia Logoleo playing a mean third base on opening weekend (moved over for SS transfer Alex Brown)

Millie Thompson and Valerie Cagle both impressive in the circle

Loss to Mizzou…Mizzou looked good beat Utah and Clemson.

Pitch by committee- Brooks McCubbin didn’t make it out of 1st inning. Millie came in for 1.1 IP, Regan Spencer 3 IP, and Cagle final inning

10 LOB

Not too concerned with this loss

Virginia Tech (4-0-1 tied with Auburn in one of the games)

Rachel Castine- career weekend

7 Hits, 4 HRs, 13 RBI, 1.667 SLG

Bri Peck- hit a grand slam in the top of the 7th against #20 Auburn (beat Auburn in first match up 8-1 in 8 innings)

Game is currently listed as a tie since it was only through 6 complete innings

Score became 9-5 with Peck’s Grand Slam

10 HR’s by 5 players

Lemley's line for the weekend cause for concern? I think so..

5.25 ERA, 8 IP, 12 BB, 5k, 7 r, 6ER

Soph Lyndsay Grein picked up the slack though, thats a good sign for VT

Notre Dame (3-2 in opening weekend lost to S Alabama and Utah)

First ever college softball game played on MLB Network- Notre Dame v Iowa

Carli Kloss, Emily Tran and Karina Gaskins led the way at the plate

Pitching is a big ? for me after week 1. Gave up 18 runs and hitters B/avg against .286

Louisville (5-0- played in Fort Myers)

Pitching staff only allowed one run across 5 games

.20 team ERA

Led by Alyssa Zabala, picking up right where she left off

Didn’t play the best competition, 2x Georgetown, LIU, FGCU x2

UNC (4-0 on the weekend)

Britton Rogers- makes her Tar Heel debut and throws a PERFECT GAME (5 innings vs North Carolina A&T)

Went 21 for 22 on stolen base attempts this weekend

Alex Coleman- Jr. Transfer from Marshall went 10 for 15

Only 1 XBH (was a double)

Carsyn Snead

Went 9-13 (0 XBHs)

I'm not sure we can make a judgement on UNC with the competition from opening weekend, but this weekend is going to be insane for UNC

Kentucky, UCF, Texas, Washington, UCLA

Georgia Tech

3-3 on weekend, 2 L’s to Bama 1 L to Villanova

Played good ball against Bama, A would-be seventh inning grand slam from Grace Connelly was robbed at the outfield wall, resulting in a double play to help Alabama close the door

We liked what we saw from Blake Neleman, 5 other pitchers saw action. Neleman will need help in the circle this year, lacked that last season.

Sara Beth Allen (Sr) had a great weekend at plate

Virginia (3-2 on the weekend)

Eden Bigham had a career high 11 strikeouts against UNCG

2 L to S. Carolina

Travel to Tuscaloosa this weekend

Syracuse

Angel Jasso (Sr) not missing a beat

.706, 12-17, 10 RBI (15 RBI all last season),

Lindsey Hendrix (Sr) 2-0, 12 IP 0 runs

NC State

1st win for Lindsay Leftwich vs Missouri State

Going to be a long season i think, def rebuild going on in Raleigh

‘Gentle’ pre conf schedule Elon, Campbell, Iona, Albany..

Boston College (4-1 on the weekend)

Halie Pappion threw a 7 inning no-hitter (2 BBs, 11Ks) sophomore, threw just 19 innings last season…could be a bright spot for BC in circle

BC beat FGCU in 10 innings

Pressure early on in the season, like to see BC put to the test

Pittsburgh

2-2 @ LSU, respectable games vs LSU and 2 wins vs Memphis

1st win for Jenny Allard

Coming up-- Alex in Clearwater? w/ UNC, GT, & FSU

UNC - Kentucky, UCF, Texas, Washington, UCLA

GT - Stanford, LSU, Minnesota, N Western, Tennessee

FSU - Stanford, UCLA, Georgia, Tennessee

Other games to look out for

Clemson in Puerto Vallarta-- Utah, Wichita State, Miss St, Auburn

VT -- ASU & Cal

Welcome to Episode 1 of Up the Coast with Alex & Britt!

Opening weekend is here! Butterflies are in full effect for athletes, coaches and fans across the country! We open this episode with our thoughts and experiences of opening weekend as former players.

Florida State #1:

Younger pitching staff, Kat Sandercock graduated

McKenna Reid- Lefty sophomore for the Noles was very impressive in her freshman campaign

Lonni Alameda coaching style- pitching by committee

FSU’s offensive leaders- Michaela Edenfield, Dev Flaherty, Kaley Mudge, Jahni Kerr, Kalei Harding

Clemson #2:

Valerie Cagle- the ACC Star 2023 National Player of the Year award recipient

Surrounded by returners- Alia Logoleo and Mackenzie Clark

Clemson fanbase seems electric!

Duke #2:

Marissa Young as the Head Coach- has done a phenomenal job building the Blue Devil program

Runner up at the ACC Tournament in 2023

Top 8 National Seed in 2023 (#8)

Winning in the “big” games will be crucial for Duke this season

Virgina Tech #3:

They have historically had great pitching

They had 100+ homeruns in 2023- great bats!

Didn’t execute and win the important games, which proved to be the difference makers throughout their season

Emma Lemley in the circle- illegal pitches, NCAA pitching rule changes

Pitching- Step/ Stride Rule Chage:

RULE: “To allow pitchers to disengage from the playing surface during the delivery. The pitcher’s pivot foot could become airborne with one push from the pitcher’s plate. However, pitchers would not be allowed to replant their pivot foot resulting in pushing off from a second point and the pitcher being farther away from the pitcher’s plate.

Britt’s thoughts on the rule change

Alex’s thoughts on the rule change

Notre Dame #4:

Interesting pre-season ranking given how their season played out last year

Hosted ACC Champs, lost the opening round game

Leadership has been a theme for the team heading into the season

Karina Gaskins- 2022 ACC POY

Repeating success is HARD

Louisville #5:

Transfer portal: lost Korbe Otis, Sarah Gordon

Graduated in ‘23: Taylor Roby- Louisville career leader in HR’s

Filling the shoes of last year’s players- dealing with change and finding their identity

Buying into that identity will be crucial for the Cardinals

Having a sense of self- finding a team identity and the importance of it!

University of North Carolina (UNC) #6:

New coaching staff- Donna J. Papa retires

New Head Coach- Megan Smith Lyons- UNC Alum

Autumn Owen- transfer to UNC from Marshall

UNC style of play- competitive, gritty

Georgia Tech #7:

Another interesting ranking, finished ‘23 10th in the ACC

New coaching staff- anxious to see how the team adapts to change

Strength of schedule is solid- opening weekend plays Alabama twice and then heads to Clearwater for the Clearwater Invitational- such a huge tournament and opportunity for GT to get better and see what they’re made of

Virginia #8:

New assistant coaches- Joanna Hardin bringing in new assistants and has had to do this a few times, has done a great job adapting to the changes and keeping the program’s culture at the forefront of her mission

Associate Head Coach- thoughts on the elevation of the position and how it’s relevance is spreading across the country

Retention focus to avoid coaches leaving programs

Syracuse #9:

Alumni as assistant coaches- Sydney O’Hara- was an All- American for the Orange, 2- way player and now able to give back to her program, having experienced it first hand

Syracuse has a great strength of in conference schedule this season- playing VT, Duke, Clemson and Florida State

North Carolina (NC) State #10:

2023 was a DOOZY

Coaching staff was let-go mid season

Director of Ops became the interim head coach, Grad Assistant became the Assistant coach

Respect the Wolfpack’s resiliency

New coaching staff- Lindsay Leftwich named as Head Coach

Boston College #11:

Important to take ownership of their identity to be in the driver’s seat of their wins and successes

Interesting hire of Cody Damon- player development coach and bringing more intelligence to the coaching perspective, not necessarily a softball specific background

Pittsburgh #12:

New coaching staff- Jenny Allard

Previous HC at Harvard, 28 years there- Ivy League’s longest tenured and most winningest coach

Importance of hiring solid assistants

Transferred out: Dani Drogemuller

Interview with Donna Papa and JoAnne Graf- two LEGENDS of the coaching world (a combined 2,805 wins between the two coaches)

History of the ACC and UNC & FSU’s involvement in the conference

Growth of the conference

Additions of teams

Additions of coverage- ACC Network, ESPN broadcasted games

Additions of facilities and amenities added for athletes and fans

The evolution of the student athlete and the sport

Softball being shown on TV

NIL and its impact

Transfer portal and its impact

ACC scope compared nationally amongst other conferences

Cal & Stanford joining the ACC

Changes within the conference

Thank you and closing remarks