SoCon Softball Championship Page
Game 8: #2 Georgia Southern 6, #3 College of Charleston 5
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MT. PLEASANT, S.C. ? Megen Smith drove in three runs and ended a furious College of Charleston rally in the final inning to earn the save as Georgia Southern advanced 6-5 in game eight of the 2008 Southern Conference Softball Championship at the Patriots Point Athletics Complex.
With Georgia Southern holding a commanding 6-1 lead entering the bottom of the seventh inning, Charleston wasted little time in mounting a comeback. Christal Kotchman doubled down the left field line and was followed by a Tiffany Harmon single and an RBI double by Kristi Woodall. With no outs and two runners on base, Shannon Howard laced a double to the gap in left center, scoring both Harmon and Woodall and drawing the Cougars to within two at 6-4.
Smith then replaced GSU starter Melissa Laliberte in the circle and immediately induced a pair of groundouts. Back-to-back errors on the infield allowed Howard to score and bring the Cougars back to just a one-run deficit at 6-5. With a runner on second base, however, Smith struck out Samantha Kubinski on a 3-2 pitch to seal the victory.
Laliberte claimed the victory to improve to 18-11 on the year while Smith earned her first save. Howard went the distance for the Cougars, falling to 18-12 after taking the loss.
Amanda Hall started the scoring in the top of the second inning with her second solo home run in as many games, giving GSU a 1-0 lead.
The teams traded runs in the fourth inning before the Eagles exploded for four in the fifth. Smith landed the biggest blow of the game with a bases-clearing, three-run double to the fence in center field. She later scored on an error by the shortstop to stake GSU to a 6-1 advantage.
Georgia Southern (36-28) moves on to the winner’s bracket final Friday at 3:00 p.m. against No. 5 seed UNC Greensboro. Charleston (32-32) falls to the loser’s bracket where it will face fourth-seeded Elon at 12:00 p.m. Friday in an elimination game.
Game 7: #5 UNC Greensboro 3, #1 Chattanooga 1
Box Score
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MT. PLEASANT, S.C. ? Fifth-seeded UNC Greensboro upset the top seed for the third consecutive season, taking out Chattanooga, 3-1, in game seven of the 2008 Southern Conference Softball Championship at the Patriots Point Athletics Complex.
The Spartans jumped out to an early advantage with two first-inning runs off of Chattanooga starter Kandice Irwin. Lyndsay Mouse singled to right and advanced to second on a stolen base. After reaching on an infield error, Brittany Ausley stole second and scampered over to third as Mouse scored on a wild pitch. Clean-up hitter Mary Catherine Vercoe then singled to the shortstop, plating Ausley and giving UNCG a lead it would not relinquish.
Laci Upchurch led the UTC comeback attempt with an RBI single in the fourth inning, but the Lady Mocs could not overcome the early deficit as Amber Harrell and Hannah Angel combined to slow down the Chattanooga offense. Harrell allowed one run in four innings of work to earn her 11th victory of the season while Angel held Chattanooga scoreless over the final three frames to record her second save.
Each team recorded just four hits on the afternoon led by UTC’s Toni Hutchison who was 2-for-2 with a pair of singles.
Irwin (8-8) took the loss for Chattanooga, which used three pitchers in the contest.
UNC Greensboro (23-31) advances to the winner’s bracket final Friday at 3:00 p.m. against the winner of the Georgia Southern/College of Charleston match-up. Chattanooga (36-20) drops to the loser’s bracket where it will face seventh-seeded Appalachian State at 10:00 a.m. Friday morning in an elimination game.