KALAMAZOO, Mich. -- The Western Michigan softball team hosts the program's longest rival for three games on Tuesday and Wednesday afternoons.

LAST TIME OUT
Western Michigan won its third straight Mid-American Conference series at Massachusetts over the weekend. The Broncos took two of three games from the UMass Minutewomen in the two program's first meeting as conference opponents. WMU won the lone game on Friday with a 3-0 shutout behind freshman pitcher Ava Geyer. The Brown and Gold also took the first game of Saturday's doubleheader by 6-3. Western Michigan was shutout in the final game of the series for the Broncos first shutout since early March in the 8-0 five inning loss.

Senior designated player and infielder Jordan Smith led WMU at the plate, going three of seven for a .429 average. The Brown and Gold had two other players with three hits, utility Jadeyn Merrill and outfielder Parker Ostach, while three other players had multiple hits in the series. Geyer and freshman Hannah Potts (8-8) earned the two wins in the circle while utility player Bella Duncan had a career long outing in the final game of the series, spending 3.1 innings pitching. 

MOVING ON UP
With a 7-5 MAC record, Western Michigan is in a three-way tie for third place in the conference. The Broncos have an identical record to Ohio and Kent State going into the fifth week of MAC play. Currently leading the conference is Akron at 9-3 while Miami (OH) is a game behind at 8-4 in second.

And it will be a busy week of conference play for WMU to continue its climb up the standings. The Brown and Gold have six MAC games on tap this week starting with hosting their only in-state rival in softball after Eastern Michigan discontinued its program, the Central Michigan Chippewas. Western Michigan then has a three-game weekend series on the road at Ball State beginning on Saturday. 

SHUTOUT CENTRAL
The Broncos earned their fifth shutout of an opponent in their first game at Amherst. WMU kept the Minutewomen from scoring a run on three hits in a 3-0 victory on Friday, April 3. The Brown and Gold now lead the conference in shutouts with five and are ranked 52nd in the nation among 195 programs with shutouts.

Western Michigan was led by freshman pitcher Ava Geyer, who threw her fourth shutout of the year in a complete 7.0 inning performance. Along with only allowing three hits, Geyer struck out six batters while allowing only two walks. Geyer also solely leads the MAC in pitching shutouts with four and is in the Top 15 nationally. The freshman is 12th in the nation in shutouts and would need 10 more to tie the program record set by Bonni Kinne back in the 1980 season. 

KEEP FLYING OUT
Junior shortstop Caitlin Tighe was one of the best hitters in the nation in bringing runs home from the outfield over the past week. In four games from March 30 to April 5, Tighe was one of only 11 players in the country to record multiple sacrifice flies. The shortstop was also the only MAC player with two sacrifice fly balls over the past week. 

Tighe's sacrifice hits to the outfield both happened during the same game at Sortino Field. She hit a sacrifice fly to center field in the top of the fourth to score the Broncos fifth run of the afternoon. She then had a sacrifice fly to right field for WMU's sixth run of the game, giving the Brown and Gold their largest lead of the weekend at 5 runs. Of the 11 batters with two sacrifice flies over last week, Tighe was the only one to have both sacrifices happen in the same game.

SERIES HISTORY
Tuesday's game against CMU will be the two program's 139th all-time meeting dating back to 1977. The Chippewa's are the Broncos longest continuing series in program history at almost 140 meetings, with the next closest being Ball State at 135 games. WMU trails in the series by quite a bit at 49-89. But the Brown and Gold have a stronger record on its home field, with 27 wins and 36 losses when playing in Kalamazoo.

Last season, Central Michigan took both games in Mount Pleasant, shutting out Western Michigan twice. The Broncos connected on nine hits over the 10 innings played in the midweek doubleheader. Senior infielder Riley Dittmar and junior catcher Tristen Head led WMU at the plate with three hits each on the day. In the circle, graduate right hander Jensen Gremillion had the longest outing at 4.0 innings pitched, allowing seven hits, six runs, and three walks while striking out four batters.

SCOUTING THE CHIPPEWAS
CMU comes into this week at an even 15-15 record after splitting their weekend series with Northern Illinois 1-1. In MAC play the Chippewa's are 6-5 and are tied for sixth in the conference with the Huskies after the two team's third game of the weekend was canceled due to field conditions from the rain. In Central Michigan's two games this weekend, the team rebounded with an 8-1 win in the the second game after falling 5-1 in the first contest on Friday afternoon at Margo Jonker Stadium in Mount Pleasant.

On the field CMU is led by senior infielder Angel Petrovitch with a .394 batting average in 30 games this season The infielder also is Top 10 in the conference in batting average at ninth and is fifth for triples with four on the season so far. Sophomore outfielder Jenna Kuzara has also been a big contributor for the Chippewas at the plate with a .353 batting average and 12 doubles for third in the MAC. In the circle, senior right-hander Mackenzie Langan leads Central Michigan with 73.0 innings pitched, a 4-7 record in 17 appearances and 15 starts, recording a 3.64 ERA with 72 strikeouts. Junior righty Brooklyn Compau also regularly contributes for CMU with 65.1 innings pitched for a 7-5 record in 17 appearances with a 3.75 ERA and 54 strikeouts.