SALEM, Va. - - UVa-Wise softball dropped its first game of the Mountain East Conference tournament to the No. 1 North seed West Liberty Friday afternoon, 3-0. Due to weather and field conditions, the Cavaliers game scheduled against No. 2 South seed Concord University has been moved to tomorrow morning with the game time to be announced.

West Liberty (33-17) pushed across its first runs of the day in the home half of the second inning to take an early lead. The Hilltoppers' Sydney Bennington led off the frame with a walk before an error put two on base for West Liberty. Bennington scored on an error with a one-out RBI groundout scoring Katie Beeman for a 2-0 West Liberty lead.

Senior Ava Hockey's single to third base in the top of the third inning with one out gave UVa-Wise (22-26) its only hit of the game but back-to-back pop ups left her stranded into the bottom of the inning.

West Liberty drove home its final run of the game in the bottom of the fourth.  The Hilltoppers' pitcher Anna Paterson singled to left with two outs and one on to advance Haley Collett. Kaitlyn Stress would send home Collett on an RBI single to right field as the Hilltoppers gained a 3-0 advantage.

The Cavs looked to get its first run across in the seventh when a lead off hit by pitch put sophomore Alexis Miles on first. Senior Shannon Bennett reached on an error one-out later but Miles was tagged out at second with one more out ending the first game of the day for UVa-Wise.

West Liberty's Patterson (12-5) picked up the win as she gave up just one hit and struck out five in a complete game performance.

Sophomore Kailyn Spencer (10-9) suffered the loss as she scattered eight hits and fanned one across six innings in the circle.

Co-Head Coaches Karen Bitter and Nick Bitter's team will return to action Saturday morning against Concord.