Photo of Dixie Raley by Mick Miller

After this past weekend’s sweep of Coastal Carolina, the Georgia Southern softball team has a prime opportunity to make a climb up the Sun Belt standings as they take on the Appalachian State Mountaineers this weekend. The Eagles are 8-7 in Sun Belt play and sitting in fourth place while App State is 0-11 in Sun Belt and is at the bottom of the standings

Finally, sophomore pitcher Dixie Raley returned to her freshman player of the year ace status from last season, recording 11 strikeouts and only allowing four runs in her two appearances against the Chanticleers. Junior Kierra Camp also stepped up and went 6.2 scoreless innings with two strikeouts.

The pitching duo will be facing Natalie Orcutt, who’s hitting a .333 with 23 runs and 13 RBIs in the Mountaineers’ struggling season. They’ll also be seeing Cara Parker, who is only hitting a .266 but has hit a team-leading seven homeruns.

The Eagles offense will be facing two aces as well in Kenzie Longanecker and Vanessa Ciocotto, who are both posting under 2.50 ERAs. This shouldn’t be too challenging for Emily Snider and Mekhia Freeman, who have consistently been clutch hitters for Georgia Southern.

Hopefully, it’ll be another easy three-game weekend for the Eagles as this season starts to wind down.