Newburgh, N.Y. – The Mount Saint Mary Softball team will take to the road for a pair of non-conference midweek sets, traveling to local foe New Paltz Wednesday afternoon and heading east on I-84 to Western Connecticut to take on the Colonials on Thursday.
 
At A Glance: The Knights have won their first two Skyline Conference sets of the season and enter the week at 5-9 overall and a perfect 4-0 in league action. The Mount is coming off a sweep of St. Joseph's-Brooklyn on Saturday, taking 3-0 and 3-1 decisions from the Bears.
 
Junior Emily Lang (Westtown, N.Y.) is off to a hot start for the Knights, hitting .488 and posting a 1.168 OPS in 43 at-bats. She leads the Mount in hits (21), runs (12), total bases (27), slugging percentage (.628) and on-base percentage (.540) and is tied for the team lead in RBI with 10 along with Morgan O'Neill (Little Falls, N.J.).
 
Lauren Oury (Bethpage, N.Y.) is hitting .293 heading into Wednesday's action in 41 at-bats and is tied for second on the team in doubles with two.
 
The Mount's pitching staff was bolstered with the return on Bridget Bennett (Gardiner, N.Y.) who made her season debut against St. Joseph's and picked up a win and a save. She has worked 8.0 innings to date and has fanned seven batters against just one walk. O'Neill has pitched to a 2.21 earned run average in eight appearances and is 2-2 on the season with a team-high 19 strikeouts.
 
Among the Skyline Conference leaders, Lang paces the league in batting average and slugging percentage. Bennett paces the conference in opponent batting average (.080) and is one of three pitchers in the conference to record a save.
 
Last Time Out: The Mount picked up its second conference sweep against St. Joseph's-Brooklyn on March 30. Bennett earned a complete game win in the opener with seven strikeouts and came on to earn the save in game two as the Knights scored 3-0 and 3-1 victories.
 
The Mount outhit St. Joseph's 4-1 in the opener with Lang continuing her hot start to the season with a 2-for-3 effort with a run and an RBI. Oury added a hit and a run scored, while Erin McCann (East Haven, Conn.) finished with a hit, a run scored and an RBI.
 
Mount Saint Mary outhit the Bears 7-5 in game two and featured six different players with a base hit in the game. Nicolette Moustouka (Seaford, N.Y.) finished up 2-for-3 with a run with O'Neill going 1-for-3 with a run and two RBI for the Knights.
 
A Look At New Paltz: The Hawks enter Wednesday's set at 12-5 overall and 3-1 in the SUNYAC. New Paltz is coming off a pair of conference wins over Brockport on Saturday afternoon.
 
Ashley Puig paces the New Paltz offensive attack with a .356 on the season with Taylor LaFrance and Shannon Fee checking in at .347. LaFrance paces the team with 15 runs scored with Puig producing six doubles and a team-high 11 RBI.
 
A trio of pitchers have hurled at least 20 innings for the Hawks thus far with Katie Quagliana holding a 7-1 record and a 2.57 earned run average in a team-high 49.0 innings. Alyssa Pfitscher has won a pair of games for the Hawks, with Emily Fox fanning 38 batters in 41.1 innings.
 
As a team, New Paltz is hitting .276 as a team with 23 doubles and just a single home run. The pitching staff pitches to a 3.06 team ERA with 66 strikeouts against 34 walks.
 
Scouting The Colonials: Western Connecticut begins the week at 10-6 overall and is coming off 12-1 and 7-4 wins over Purchase on Tuesday. Angelina Miller moved to 2-0 on the season with six strikeouts in the game two win.
 
The Colonials' offensive attack features six players with at least 20 at-bats hitting .300 or better. Annie Rosa leads the way, hitting an even .500 in 38 at-bats, adding five doubles and a team-high 19 RBI. Erica Bower is hitting .441, with five doubles, a triple, four walks and seven RBI.
 
Alyssa Lionetti leads the Western Connecticut pitching staff with a 4-2 record and is sporting a 1.78 ERA in 19.2 innings of work. Jaclyn Smith has worked a team-high 40.1 innings in the circle and leads the team with 25 strikeouts.
 
As a team, the Colonials are hitting .312 and hold a .400 on-base percentage. Opponents are hitting just .192 against the Colonials who hold a .288 team ERA.
 
What's Next: Following four midweek non-conference games, the Knights continue an eight game road trip on the week when they travel to Old Westbury on Saturday and St. Joseph's-L.I. on Sunday.