BUIES CREEK, N.C. - Campbell seeks its third-straight conference tournament title at the Big South Championships held in Radford, Va. The No. 2 Camels open up the four team double-elimination bracket against No. 3 USC Upstate from Radford Softball Stadium, Thursday at 1:00 p.m.

LEADING OFF

• Campbell owns a 38-15 record overall and finished as Big South regular season co-champions, alongside Longwood, with a 15-5 mark in conference games
• The Camels have earned 30 or more wins in back-to-back seasons for the first time since the 2013 and 2014 seasons. Campbell's 38 wins in the regular season marked the most in program history since 1995 when the Camels won 41 games during the regular season
• This past weekend the Camels dropped its only conference series of the season at Longwood. Campbell, which fell in consecutive games for the first time in over 11 weeks, clinched a share of the Big South regular season title with a 4-3 win over the Lancers before falling 6-1 and 7-4 in the next two games.
• Campbell wrapped up its home slate with a pair of shutout wins over Norfolk State the previous week, winning 1-0 and 6-0.
• The Fighting Camels are back-to-back Big South Regular Season and Conference Tournament Championships bringing in a new coaching staff headed by Trena Prater. A Louisiana State graduate, Prater has spent her last four years as the associate head coach at the University of Iowa
• Claudia Ware leads the Camels at the plate with a .359 batting average and 52 hits.Madilyn Gillespie is hitting .342 with 39 hits and 19 RBI while Delaney McDilda owns a .347 average with 33 hits and 21 RBI. Mckayla McClain is batting .331 with 49 hits and 24 RBI while Alyssa Henault is hitting .324 with 48 hits.
• Isabella Smith and Kayla Howald lead the Camels in the circle. Smith holds a 26-9 record with a 1.90 ERA, 223 strikeouts and a .196 batting average against in 213.2 innings while Howald holds a 11-5 record, 2.76 ERA and 80 strikeouts in 116.2 innings of work

All-CONFERENCE AWARD WINNERS

• Campbell featured nine players that earned Big South all-conference honors
• Isabella Smith was named Big South Pitcher of the Year, becoming the first Camel to win the award
• First baseman Madilyn Gillespie was named Big South Freshman of the Year
• Joining Smith and Gillespie on the All-Conference first team included outfielder Claudia Ware, who was also named to the all-academic team, and shortstop Alyssa Henault
• Third baseman Delaney McDilda, catcher Savannah White and designated player Lindsey Hunt all earned second team honors
• Tyra Parker garnered honorable mention all-conference honors while Mckayla McClain was named to the conference's all-freshman team

REGULAR SEASON THREE-PEAT

• Campbell earned a share of the Big South regular season title for a third straight season
• The Camels have claimed four series this season; sweeping USC Upstate, Presbyterian and Radford while winning two of three games against Gardner-Webb and Winthrop
• Campbell finished conference play hitting .313 in conference games, including having two players hitting over .400 (Ware - .433, Gillespie - .413)
• Conference foes, meanwhile, hit just .213 against the Camels

BIG SOUTH CHAMPIONSHIP HISTORY

• The Camels have won back-to-back Big South Championship titles, defeating USC Upstate in 2021 and Longwood last season to clinch berths to the NCAA Tournament
• Campbell also won the 1993 Big South Championship

SERIES HISTORY

• USC Upstate leads the all-time series 17-11
• Campbell swept the regular season series
• After earning a 2-1 win in the first game of the series, Allyiah Swiney provided a walk-off run-rule grand slam in the second game of the series leading the Camels to a 10-2 (5 inn.) win
• Tyra Parker provided the walk-off hit in the final game of the series, leading the Camels to a 4-3 (8 inn.) win
• Campbell eliminated the Spartans from last season's Big South Championship with a 6-1 win

SCOUTING UPSTATE

• Finished third in the Big South standings with an overall record of 37-15 and a 13-8 mark in conference games
• Winners of six straight, including and eight of their last 10, the Spartans lead the Big South with a .305 batting average and a 1.85 ERA
• Junior pitcher Alyssa Kelly ranks eighth nationally with eight shutouts, along with a ERA of 1.68
• Junior catcher Casey Goguts leads the Spartans with a .381 batting average and 13 home runs while sophomore outfielder Denver Lauer is batting .361 with a team-high 38 RBI and 57 hits
• The Spartans are led by longtime head coach Chris Hawkins, in his 29th season at the helm

WINNING IN THE CREEK

• The Camels finished at home with a 28-4 record in games played at Amanda Littlejohn Stadium this season
• Campbell is tied with South Florida and Texas for the most home wins (28) this season in the nation
• Campbell's 28 wins marks the most single-season home wins in program history and second-highest home win percentage (.875) since the 1994 season when the Camels went 15-2 (.882) in home games

SMITH SETS SEASON STRIKEOUT RECORD

• Isabella Smith set the Campbell single-season strikeout record, achieving her 218th strikeout of the season against Norfolk State

CLUTCH CAMELS

• Campbell has won five games via walk-off in the 7th or extra innings this season and have three walk-off run-rule wins

STAT LEADERS

• Five Camels have 20 RBI or more led by Allyiah Swiney (29), Claudia Ware (25), Makayla McClain (24) and Savannah White (23) and Delaney McDilda (22). Both Madilyn Gillespie and Lindsey Hunt have 19 RBI each.
• Seven Camels have 30 hits or more while three have over 40 hits including Claudia Ware (52), McKayla McClain (49) and Alyssa Henault (48)
• McClain (26-of-28) and Tyra Parker (26-of-28) lead the team with 26 stolen bases followed by Swiney (15-of-19) and Henault (13-of-16)

200 CAREER HITS FOR WARE

• Claudia Ware recorded her 200th career hit in the Longwood series last weekend
• The fifth-year player became the 11th player in program history to record 200 hits or more as a Camel

200 CAREER STRIKEOUTS FOR HOWALD

• Kayla Howald recorded her 200th career strikeout during the Longwood series
• A redshirt-junior, Howald is having a career season with a 2.76 ERA, 11 wins and 80 strikeouts

100 CAREER HITS FOR MCDILDA

• Delaney McDilda achieved her 100th career hit in Campbell's 6-0 win against Norfolk State
• The junior is hitting a career-best .330 with 35 hits and 22 RBI this season

SMITH SHINING IN THE CIRCLE

• Redshirt sophomore Isabella Smith has become one of the top pitchers in the country for Campbell
• The Raleigh native ranks 3rd in the country with 213.2 innings pitched, 7th with 223 strikeouts and 3rd with 26 wins
• Smith recorded her 200th strikeout this season against Radford. She is the second Campbell pitcher to reach the single-season mark.
• She broke the Campbell single-season strikeout record of 217 with her 218th strikeout of the year in a game against Norfolk State
• In the series against USC Upstate, Smith became the 11th Campbell pitcher to record 300 strikeouts or more in her career
• In two seasons with the Camels, Smith already ranks 5th on the program's all-time strikeout list with 382
• Smith has tied her career-high with 12 strikeouts three times this season (vs. Rider, Radford and NC State) and has posted double-digit strikeouts nine times overall this year

IN THE NATIONAL RANKS

• No. 3 - Isabella Smith, 26 wins
• No. 3 - Isabella Smith, 213.2 innings pitched
• No. 6 - Claudia Ware, 18 doubles
• No. 7 - Isabella Smith, 223 strikeouts
• No. 11 - 112 stolen bases
• No. 16 - 0.34 triples per game
• No. 17 - 2.11 stolen bases per game
• No. 22 - Makayla McClain & Tyra Parker, 5 triples
• No. 25 - 3.04 strikeout-to-walk ratio
• No. 29 - .717 win-loss percentage
• No. 29 - Makayla McClain & Tyra Parker, 26 stolen bases
• No. 33 - Savannah White, 0.20 sacrifice bunts per game
• No. 37 - 73 doubles
• No. 39 - 2.35 ERA
• No. 46 - Isabella Smith, 4.46 strikeout-to-walk ratio
• No. 65 - 0.289 batting average