BUIES CREEK, N.C. - The Fighting Camels host the annual Campbell Invitational this weekend, March 3-5. Campbell welcomes Canisius, Lehigh, Furman, and North Carolina Central. 

Admission to the Campbell Invitational and all Campbell softball games is free. A clear bag policy is in effect for all Campbell athletic events including games at Amanda Littlejohn Stadium. Live stats will be available, using the same link for each game and all Campbell games will have live audio.
 

CAMPBELL INVITATIONAL SCHEDULE

Friday, March 3 

9:00 a.m. - Furman vs. NC Central

11:30 a.m. - Canisius vs. NC Central

2:00 p.m. - Furman vs. Lehigh

4:30 p.m. - Canisius vs. Campbell

7:00 p.m. - Lehigh vs. Campbell

Saturday, March 4

9:00 a.m. - Furman vs. Canisius

11:30 a.m. - Furman vs. Campbell

2:00 p.m. - NC Central vs. Campbell

4:30 p.m. - Lehigh vs. Canisius

7:00 p.m. - Lehigh vs. NC Central

Sunday, March 5 

10:00 a.m. - Lehigh vs. Canisius

1:00 p.m. - Furman vs. Campbell
 

LEADING OFF

Campbell hosted the Camel Stampede last weekend. The Camels defeated Rider, Wagner, and Ohio and fell twice to #14 Duke. The Fighting Camels come off back-to-back Big South Regular Season and Conference Championships bringing in a new coaching staff headed by Trena Prater. The Louisiana State graduate spent her last four years as the associate head coach at the University of Iowa. Freshman Makayla McClain leads the Camels at the plate with a .341 batting average, 15 hits and 9 RBIs. There are three other Camels batting over .300 including McClain, Lindsey Hunt (.321), Claudia Ware (.317), and Alyssa Henault (.300). Isabella Smith leads the team in the circle with a 2.39 ERA and a 6-4 record. She has pitched 58.2 innings allowing 20 earned runs and striking out 48. 

SERIES HISTORY

• Canisius: Golden Giffins lead series 2-0, last meeting - 2003
• Lehigh: Camels lead series 3-1, last meeting - 2011
• Furman: Camels lead series 5-3, last meeting - 2017
• NCCU: Camels lead series 23-1, last meeting - 2022

SCOUTING CANISIUS

• The Golden Griffs come into the Campbell Invitational with a record of 5-2 after splitting a doubleheader with College of Charleston last week.
• Canisius is coming off a 2022 season where they finished 32-18 with a MAAC record of 16-4 winning the MAAC regular season title. The Griffs also won the MAAC conference tournamnet earning an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament and comepeting in the Gainsville Regional.
• Tiara Johnson leads the team in batting average with .368 and leads the team in RBIs with 6. Christie McGee-Ross leads the team in OPS with a 1.024 average and triples with 2. 
• Alexis Churchill leads the team in the circle with a 2.21 ERA in 12.2 innings pitched giving up 14 hits and only 4 earned runs.
• Kim Griffin is in her 9th season as head coach of the Griffins, holding a 167-192 career head coaching record at Canisius. 

SCOUTING LEHIGH

• The Mountain Hawks are currently 5-2 on the year with a key win over #7 Alabama, 7-4 in Tuscaloosa. The Hawks did drop a game to Wagner 2-1, who the Camels defeated this past weekend 3-2.
• Last season, Lehigh finished 31-20-1 with a impressive 15-3 conference record winning the Patriot League regular season and tournament championships. The Mountain Hawks competed in the Seattle Regional picking up a win over Weber State.
• Emily Cimino leads the team at the plate witn a .391 batting average and 13 RBIs. She has 9 hits, 5 of which are doubles and 2 home runs giving her a whopping 1.370 OPS. 
• The Hawks pitching staff has three girls with impressive ERAs, Maria Urban (0.72) , Chloe Hess (0.84), Katelyn Young (1.77). The team has only allowed 10 earned runs in 54 innings pitched. 
• Fran Troyan is in his 28th season as head coach at Lehigh. He hold the Patriot League record 370 conference wins leading the program to 19 regular season titles and 12 tournament championships. 
• Troyan led Lehigh back to the top of the Patriot League in 2022. Prepped by a rigorous non-league schedule, Lehigh found its groove in April and May, posting a 15-3 Patriot League mark. The Mountain Hawks won the final regular season series of the year at Boston University, snapping BU's nation-best 27-game winning streak. Lehigh returned to Boston for the Patriot League Tournament and defeated the Terriers twice in the championship round to claim the program's league-leading 15th tournament title and first since 2017.

SCOUTING FURMAN

• The Paladins are 4-10 on the year with a 5-game losing streak. Furman split a doubleheader against Big South foe Garnder-Webb last week. 
• In 2022, The Paladins fininshed with a 22-33 overall record and a SoCon record of 8-10. 
• Riley Ludlam is currently batting .400 with 4 home runs, 5 doubles, 17 RBIs, and a 1.272 OPS.
• Kiley Perry also has 4 home runs and is batting .318 with a 1.006 OPS and 12 RBIs.
• Lauralee Scott has a 3.45 ERA but has only 24.1 innings. Sierra Tufts seems to be their go-to pitchers having pitched 40.2 innings with a 4.13 ERA. 
• Stacey Johnson-Whitfield just completed her first season at the helm of the Furman softball program and second season overall. She served as the team's interim head coach from May of 2021 to 2022 before becoming the program's permanent head coach on May 14, 2022.

SCOUTING NC CENTRAL

• The Eagles are currently winless on the year after dropping two games to #12 Duke on Wednesday. 
• Last season, the Eagles finished 12-36 with a MEAC record of 8-13. 
• Jaden Davis leads the team in batting average at .306. Davis also leads the team in the circle with a 5.25 ERA. 
• Ivory Jones leads the team in production with 11 RBIs and 7 runs. 
• Cat Tarvin is in her 4th season at the helm of the NC Central softball program. Cat Tarvin was named the head coach of the North Carolina Central University softball program in September of 2021. She served as the NCCU interim softball head coach in 2020-21 and was an assistant coach for the Eagles the three seasons prior to that from 2017-2020.
• In her one season as interim head coach, Tarvin guided the Eagles to a 9-7 conference record before leading the Eagles to a runner-up finish in the 2021 Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) Softball Championship. It marked the first time NCCU advanced to the championship game of the MEAC tourney since joining the league in 2011.

 
UP NEXT 

The Fighting Camels travel to South Carolina Wednesday, March 8 to face Coastal Carolina before hosting Detroit Mercy next weekend, March 10-11 for a three game series.