VIENNA, W.Va. – After claiming its fifth consecutive WVIAC regular season title and 18th overall under Steve Warner, along with the top spot in the conference tournament, West Virginia Wesleyan turns its attention to a first round matchup with Ohio Valley on Thursday morning at 10 a.m.

The Bobcats and Fighting Scots split their two meetings in Buckhannon this season. OVU took advantage of four Wesleyan errors to claim a 4-2 win in eight innings of game one of the doubleheader. WVWC bounced back with a 5-1 victory in game two behind a complete game two-hitter from Kaitlyn Carey. Carey also went 3-for-3 at the plate with a pair of RBI and two runs scored.

The turning point of the Bobcats' season may have come after a hard fought 3-2 loss in game one of a doubleheader against West Virginia State which dropped Wesleyan to third in the league standings. The Bobcats rallied to take game two 1-0 behind a complete game one-hit shutout by Hillary Perez-Ashley. Wesleyan followed that up with its best offensive output of the season, scoring 18 runs on 17 hits against previously unbeaten in WVIAC play Charleston. WVWC rolled to a 12-game win streak to claim the league title, before falling to Fairmont State in the regular season finale.

The Bobcats' surge to the top has been keyed by the late season performance of Perez-Ashley, who has seemingly found the form that made her the conference Pitcher of the Year in 2011. The Long Beach, Calif. native has won nine straight starts, and, in her last 50 innings pitched, has surrendered just three runs while striking out 58 with only one walk.

The trio of Perez-Ashley, Carey and Jacqui Omichinski has combined to have an earned run average of 0.98 in 24 games against conference opponents this season.

Kelli McCullough has been the best hitter for the Bobcats in league play with a batting average of .492 with six doubles and 13 runs batted in.

Wesleyan will be seeking its fourth WVIAC Tournament Championship in a row and the 16th in the tenure of Steve Warner.

The winner of Thursday morning's contest will face the winner between Shepherd and Fairmont State at 4 p.m., while the two losing teams will play at 2 p.m.