Story Courtesy Western Carolina sports information
Western Carolina 10-5, St. Francis 0-4
CULLOWHEE, NC - Using nine extra base hits, including six home runs, Western Carolina recorded a two-game sweep of the St. Francis (Pa.) Red Flashes Wednesday afternoon, 10-0 in five innings and 5-4 at the Catamount Softball Complex. The Catamounts improve to 7-3 on the season, undefeated at their home venue in four attempts.
Freshman Mendy McKenzie, who has earned back-to-back Southern Conference Pitcher of the Week honors, improved to 4-0 on the season by winning game one, 10-0. In five innings of work, she only surrendered two hits while fanning seven and walking none. Her classmate, Jenny Jackson, also stayed unbeaten, winning her second outing, 5-4, in game two. Jackson worked all seven innings, striking out four and did not surrender a base on balls. Although Jackson allowed four runs, only one was earned.
Junior Ashley Adams led Western on the day, hitting 4-for-5 with a double and a home run. Freshman Lauren Ross belted her team-leading third long ball of the season to give her a team-high nine RBI. Including Ross' shot, the Catamounts hit six total home runs over the two game set, with sophomore Savannah Filley delivering two long balls, and freshman Beth Hauser, junior Ashley Adams and sophomore Heather Pritchard homering. Pritchard's two-run shot in game two was the first of her career and provided the winning margin.
Of the six homers, Western hit back-to-back home runs in both games, a first in program history.
Story Courtesy College of Charleston sports information
College of Charleston 10-6, Oakland 2-4
CHARLESTON, SC - Jayme Durand, Renee Francis, Jennifer Golden and Shannon Howard all homered in helping lead the College of Charleston to a pair of victories over Oakland University by the scores of 10-2 and 6-4 Wednesday at Patriots Point Field.
The Cougars improve to 10-5 on the season with the two wins as Howard and fellow pitcher Amber Havnar each picked up their fifth wins of the year. Oakland falls to 3-6 on the year with Jessica Brubaker and Laura Chomokos picking up the losses for the Golden Grizzlies.
Durand, Howard, and Leshe Russell each had four hits on the day with Durand leading the team in runs batted in on the day with three.
In game one the Cougars used a four-run first inning, a four-run third inning, and a two-run fourth to defeat Oakland 10-2 in five innings. The Cougars scored ten runs on 12 hits while committing no errors in the victory. The Golden Grizzlies scored two runs on one hit committing three errors in the loss.
Game two saw Charleston take an early 1-0 lead off of Howard’s second homerun of the season in the bottom of the second. Golden launched her fifth dinger of the season two innings later making it a 2-0 game.
The Cougars would four more runs in the fifth and sixth innings to increase the lead to six. Oakland would attempt a comeback scoring four runs in the final frame to pull within two of CofC but the deficit was too large to overcome for the Golden Grizzlies as they fell to the Cougars 6-4.
Middle Tennessee 3-5, Chattanooga 0-3
Campbell 9-9, Elon 8-4