Story Courtesy Appalachian State sports information
Appalachian State 10, UNC Greensboro 4
BOONE, NC - Junior Kasey Motsinger (Yadkinville, N.C.) had a career afternoon at the plate, breaking a school record with two home runs and tying the record for RBI with six in ASU’s 10-4 victory over UNC Greensboro Saturday afternoon. The victory complete the series sweep for the Mountaineers and sets a new school record for Southern Conference wins with eight. In addition, Elon’s loss gives Appalachian sole possession of third place in the SoCon standings.
Appalachian now stands at 23-24 overall and 8-7 in the SoCon. UNCG falls to 16-28 overall and 3-9 in the league.
Motsinger hit her two three-run homers in back-to-back at bats in the first two innings of the game to give Appalachian a quick 7-1 lead. The Mountaineers belted out 14 hits in the victory, the third most in school history and committed just one error. UNCG scored its four runs on eight hits with one error. Krista Judge had a perfect 3-for-3 afternoon at the plate while Lyndsay Mouse drove in two runs for the Spartans.
Yancy Moose (Hamptonville, N.C.) picked up the win in relief, her second of the series to improve to 8-6. Vanessa Oakes took the loss for UNCG, falling to 9-11.
UNCG cut into the lead with two runs in the third on Mouse’s double to left center field. However, the Mountaineers added to their lead in the bottom half of the inning with three runs on Brittany Gaston’s (Roswell, Ga.) home run to right field. Gaston had four RBI on the day as she and Motsinger combined to drive in all 10 Appalachian runs.
Story Courtesy Elon sports information
Furman 4, Elon 1
ELON, NC ? The Furman Lady Paladins used eight hits to down the Elon Phoenix 4-1 on Saturday afternoon in Southern Conference softball action at East Field.
Furman took a 1-0 lead in the top of the third inning. Blake Murray led off the inning with a double to right centerfield and Jessica Mathis put down a sacrifice bunt to advance Murray before an RBI single by Amber Kiser pushed Murray home to give the Lady Paladins the 1-0 advantage.
The Lady Paladins added the eventual game-winning run in the top of the sixth inning. Megan Jaudon doubled to centerfield before Amber Nelsen knocked a grounder to the Elon third baseman, Jaimie Rao. But Rao’s throw to first base was high, allowing Jaudon to score and putting Furman up 2-0.
Elon responded in the bottom of the sixth inning. Tracey Dahlen reached on a fielder’s choice and advanced to second on a ground out by Debbie Zeigler. Rao then doubled to centerfield to plate Dahlen and cut the lead to one at 2-1.
Furman (24-29, 5-10) added two insurance runs in the seventh inning when Mathis blasted at two-run home run out of left field to put the Lady Paladins up 4-1.
Vanessa Williams (11-9) picked up the win for Furman after throwing a complete game and giving up one run (no earned runs) on five hits and striking out four batters.
Samantha Schroeder (5-7) suffered the loss for the Phoenix. She tossed seven innings and gave up four runs (three earned) on eight hits while retiring two batters.
Murray paced the Lady Paladins from the plate, going two-for-two with one run scored. Mathis tallied one hit on two at-bats and recorded on run and two RBI.
Rebecca Rijavec, Erica Ayala, Brandi Jones, Nicole Ellis and Rao all recorded one hit a piece while Rao posted one RBI.
Story Courtesy Georgia Southern sports information
Georgia Southern 2, College of Charleston 0
STATESBORO, GA - Georgia Southern sophomore Melissa Laliberte (Cobourg, Ontario, Canada) tossed a complete-game three-hitter to lead the Eagles to a 2-0 win over the College of Charleston Saturday afternoon at Eagle Field.
The win helps GSU avert a sweep at the hands of CofC, losing two one-run games Friday. The Eagles improve to 22-25 and 6-6 in the SoCon while the Cougars fall to 24-24, 9-3.
Laliberte’s performance Saturday capped off a stellar weekend for her. She was the tough-luck loser in game two of the series when she allowed no earned runs and just one hit in a 2-1 loss. Today she struck out one and walked none to up her record to 9-8.
“You always hope that if a kid shows something strong the first day that they’ll come out the second day and do the same,” said Georgia Southern head coach Natalie Poole. “I was glad to see that she came out today with consistent arm speed and really took each pitch to mean something and did the job.”
The final two games of the series looked nothing like game one when the two teams combined for 19 runs and 21 hits in the opener and just five runs and 13 hits in the last two.
The game was scoreless until the fourth when junior Aurora Johnson (Macon, Ga.) broke the tie with a solo homer to left. Her roundtripper ties her with current teammate Sam Steiner (Loxley, Ala.) for first on Georgia Southern’s all-time home run list with 18. She has a team-best eight in 2006.
GSU scratched an insurance run across in the sixth. Junior Maria Laurato (New Orleans, La.) led off the frame with a double, but two outs later, was still on second. However, Laurato crossed the plate on two wild pitches, and the Eagles led 2-0.
Laliberte retired the side in order in the seventh to close out the win.
“At first I was a little worried because we came out more quiet than we were yesterday. But they came out ready to play and did what it took to win,” added Poole.
Story Courtesy Chattanooga sports information
Western Carolina 5-2, Chattanooga 3-6
CHATTANOOGA, TN - The Lady Mocs’ bats came awake in the second game of Saturday’s double-header and Chattanooga avoided a sweep by Southern Conference-leading Western Carolina Saturday afternoon at Frost Stadium. UTC won game two 6-2 and fell 5-3 to the Lady Cats in the opener.
Ashley Frizzell picked up her league-leading 14th win of the season getting seven strikeouts through six-and-two-thirds innings. The Soddy Daisy product sat out the first third of the sixth inning after finishing game one for JayCee Wood. The Lawton, Okla., senior struck out one but loaded the bases with a pair of singles and an error causing Chattanooga head coach Frank Reed to reenter Frizzell. She got the next two batters out to strand all three runners.
Western Carolina got on the board first in the second game on a lead-off homerun in the second inning from pitcher Jenny Jackson. Frizzell got the next three batters out and the Lady Mocs responded with a lead-off homerun from Ashleigh Bull to start the bottom of the inning tying it up 1-1.
The Chattanooga bats came alive in the bottom of the third with Brittney Whittier leading off with a double to left center. Amanda Hoiness sacrificed her over and Jeannie Cochran singled to put runners at the corners. Cochran then stole her 24th base of the season and Ashley Cuticchia singled through the left side to plate both runners. Two batters later with a pair of runners on base, Ashlan Clarkson singled to the shortstop scoring Cuticchia from second. Chattanooga took a 4-1 lead.
The Lady Mocs put two insurance runs on the board, one in the fourth and one in the sixth giving up just one more to the Cats. Cuticchia went 2-for-4 with two RBI and Hoiness was 1-for-2 with a sacrifice and two RBI. Bull and Clarkson each got one hit and drove in a run.
Pritchard went 3-for-3 and Stephanie Beatty was 2-for-3. Savannah Filley and Jackson each got a hit and one RBI for the Catamounts. Filley and Jackson combined for four strikeouts and Jackson gave up six earned runs on 10 hits.
In game one, the Lady Mocs gave up a 3-1 lead with a three-run fourth inning by Western Carolina. Robyn Johnson doubled with two on in the second to give the Lady Mocs a 2-0 lead. The Lady Cats got one run back in the top of the third on an RBI single from Ashley Adams. UTC’s Clarkson singled in the third to plate Cuticchia who reached on a single to start the inning to put the Lady Mocs back up by two runs at 3-1.
Western Carolina opened it up in the fourth and took the lead for good with three runs. Woods walked two batters with one out and a two out single loaded the bases. Heather Pritchard ripped a double to right center to clear the bases and Woods was lifted in favor of Frizzell who finished out the game.
Johnson was 1-for-3 with two RBI and Clarkson was 1-for-3 with one RBI. Alyssa Edwards was 2-for-3 with a run scored and Cuticchia was 1-of-4 with a run scored. Hutchison and Cochran each got one hit for Chattanooga and Cochran stole two bases in the game. Wood and Frizzell combined for six strikeouts.
Pritchard was 1-for-4 with a double and three RBI. Adams hit her SoCon record 18th homerun in the game and was 2-for-4 with a pair of RBI. Beatty, Filley and Allyson McCubbins each got one hit. Mendy McKenzie struck out seven of the 30 batters she faced and walked two with three earned runs.
The Catamounts added another run in the top of the fifth and claimed their 30th win of the season, 5-3. Western Carolina is 30-16 overall and 9-2 in the SoCon. The Lady Mocs are 27-29 on the year and 5-7 in league play.