Softball (22-22, 3-8 Southern Conference) was in action for games against Kennesaw State University (10-33) at home, and a three-game series against SoCon opponent East Tennessee State University (14-29, 3-9 SoCon) in Johnson City, Tenn.
The game against Kennesaw was a 3-1 victory, which broke an 11-year losing streak to the Owls. The Bears scored first in the bottom of the second inning, but the bats went quiet after that. It wasn't until the top of the fifth inning that the Owls would even out the score, but the Bears rallied back in the bottom of the inning to add two more runs and retake the lead.
KiKi Daniels ‘28, Sietske Drijvers ‘26 and Megan Loughren ‘27 each scored during the game for the Bears. Pitcher Katheryn Rearley ‘26 led the team defensively on the mound to make the Bears 7-1 against Georgia based teams. Rearley (3-2) pitched all seven innings, allowing six hits and one run while walking one batter.
The Bears won the first two games of the away series against ETSU, securing the series win, and dropped the third game on Sunday.
In the first game, Mercer won 4-2. The Bears scored two runs in both the third and fourth innings as the Buccaneers scored first in the bottom of the second. Mercer was led by Emma Dorval ‘25 and Hallie Langford ‘25, who both scored one run while Sydney Harris ‘25 got on the board twice. Gabby Ellis ‘27 and Hannah Pitts ‘26 were the two pitchers during the game for the Bears. Pitts secured the save in two innings of work while striking out three batters.
The Bears followed it up with a 10-2 win with Grace Taylor ‘26 leading on the mound. Mercer held the Buccaneers to two runs in the bottom of the third, while scoring runs in the second, third, fourth and seventh inning to clinch the series win.
The Bears fell short in the last game of the series as ETSU took game three, 5-2. Parris Wiggs '26 and Langford scored the only two runs for Mercer in the first and fifth inning. The loss snapped a three-game winning streak for the Bears as they are set to take on Georgia Southern University (27-16) in Statesboro, Ga. today and Western Carolina University (20-23, 4-8 SoCon) at home from Friday to Saturday.
