GameDay Central
No. 6 IUP Crimson Hawks (32-15, 22-6 PSAC West)
vs. No. 3 Shippensburg Red Raiders (34-15, 17-11 PSAC East)
Friday, May 9 – Sunday, May 11 | Shippensburg, PA
2014 NCAA Division II Softball Atlantic Regional 2
 
Live Stats: Fan Stats | Media Stats
 
Regional Links
2014 Championship Host Page | NCAA Digital Program
 
Team Links
IUP Schedule| IUP Roster | IUP Statistics | Shippensburg Schedule |Shippensburg Roster | Shippensburg Statistics
 
AT A GLANCE
The Crimson Hawks make their 10^th appearance in the NCAA Championships and fourth under head coach Bill Graham. This is the fourth appearance in the last five seasons, including a World Series appearance in 2011. IUP will kick things off against Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference East rival Shippensburg in the first round of the double elimination tournament on Friday at 2:30 p.m.
 
ALL-TIME SERIES
Shippensburg leads the all-time series 44-7, but the Crimson Hawks have claimed victories in two of the last four games. Both wins occurred during the 2011 PSAC tournament when IUP won 8-0 and 3-1.Shippensburg won this season's only matchup 7-1 in the first round of PSAC tournament play. IUP All-Time Record vs. Opponents
 
SCOUTING SHIPPENSBURG
Finishing third in the East, the Raiders have an overall record of 34-15 and went 17-11 in conference play. They were the PSAC runners up this season after falling in back-to-back games to California (PA) in the tournament's final two games. The Red Raiders were conference champions for three straight years in 2003, 2004 and 2005 but have not claimed a title since then. Their longest win-streak came in March, when they rattled off eight straight victories from March 12 to March 22.
 
ALL-CONFERNCE
The Crimson Hawks landed five players on the All-PSAC teams, including freshman of the year Hannah Mercer (Hollidaysburg/Hollidaysburg Area). Jasa Mitchell (Snow Shoe/Bald Eagle Area) and Alexa Campbell (Manheim/Manheim Central ) made the first team squad while Mercer, Stefanie McCoy (New Paris/Chestnut Ridge) and Meghan Carney (Corry/Corry) landed on the second team. All-PSAC Release 

RBI QUEEN 
With 41 RBI on the season, junior McCoy leads the PSAC in bringing runners around. Starting in all 47 games for the Crimson Hawks, she's second on the team with a .371 average, good for 16th in the conference. She's connected on 56 hits, with a team-leading 16 doubles in addition to one triple, three homers, a slugging percetage of .550 and a .438 on base percentage. The shortstop has also been solid on defense, with a .947 fielding percentage and just 10 errors all season long. She was also named to the 2014 Capital One CoSIDA Academic All-District squad, boasting a 3.94 cumulative GPA as an exercise science major. Academic All-District Release 

BACK WHERE THEY BELONG
The Crimson Hawks have had a plethora of postseason success in recent years. Since 2000, they have made nine NCAA tournament appearances and nine PSAC tournament appearances, including this season. Perhaps their best season in program history came in 2011 when they won both the PSAC and Atlantic Region titles and earned a bid in the World Series. Year-By-Year Records 

IN THE RECORD BOOKS 
Senior Mitchell will go down as one of the best players in IUP softball history. She set IUP single-season and career homerun records, recording 15 bombs on the season and 28 total for her career. She shattered the previous single-season record of nine set by Jodie Swavely in 2006, and tied the career total of 28 from Sarah White (2003-06). Mitchell led the conference in homeruns and slugging percentage, was eighth in average and did not commit an error in centerfield all season. A three-year member of the team, Mitchell will wrap up her career with the Crimson Hawks with her hand in a multitude of records. She currently sits in a tie for first in career homeruns (28), is first in slugging percentage (.635), second in doubles (35), fifth in total bases (263), seventh in RBI (95), 10^th in average (.329), 10^th in runs scored (90), 15^th in hits (136) and 17^th in at bats (414). This season she set individual marks for homeruns (15), runs (44), total bases (123) and currently holds the slugging percentage mark (.809). She finished this season tied for third in single-season doubles (13) and sixth in single season batting average (.388) and RBI (39). Mitchell Bio

UP NEXT
With a victory, the Crimson Hawks will move on to play the winnner of the No. 2 West Virginia Wesleyan vs. No. 7 Mansfield matchup. The loser will go on to play the loser of that game. The double elimination tournament is slated to get underway at noon on Friday and wrap up Sunday.