College of Charleston 4, South Carolina State 1
College of Charleston 12, South Carolina State 0
ORANGEBURG, S.C. - The College of Charleston softball team dominated South Carolina State in a non-conference doubleheader on Wednesday afternoon at Hillcrest Field. The Cougars won, 4-1 and 12-0, to push their winning streak to four games.
The win was CofC's (10-5) 10th in a row against the Bulldogs. The teams are scheduled to face off in another doubleheader this season at Patriots Point on Tuesday, March 29.
"We started off a little slow but got things going throughout the day," said head coach Shelly Hoerner. "Once we found our offensive rhythm we were able to execute and score runs."
Alexa Datko shined in the circle in the opening game with a complete-game performance in which she struck out nine and allowed just four hitters to reach base.
Stephanie Saylors picked up the win in the eight-run-rule shortened second game with five innings of one-hit softball. Saylors struck out eight and walked just one.
GAME ONE: CofC: 4, SC State: 1
In the top of the first, Kristi Woodall led off with a walk and stole second before Carly Corthell singled and also stole second to put two runners in scoring position with no outs. Amanda Lonergan drove a sacrifice fly to center to score Woodall and move Corthell to third. Katie Nutaitis picked up an RBI with a groundball to shortstop which scored Corthell, putting CofC up 2-0.
The Cougars' bats fell silent until the sixth inning when Kelsey Hodgson doubled with Lizzy Vaughn on base to score a run. Later in the inning, Hillary Stringer singled to bring Hodgson to the plate and stretch CofC's lead to 4-0.
The Bulldogs put a run up in the seventh but Datko shut them down in order afterwards to preserve the win.
GAME TWO: CofC: 12, SC State: 0 (6 inn.)
In the second game, the Cougars exploded for 11 runs in the fifth and sixth innings to enforce the eight-run rule. Saylors pitched five innings allowing only one hit and Jen Rosene pitched the final inning perfectly.
Woodall scored in the first inning when she was hit by a pitch, moved to third on a pair of sacrifices and scored on a wild pitch.
Just like in the first game, the Cougars were quiet through the middle innings but this time exploded in the fifth and sixth. In the fifth, Woodall got things started with a one-out single followed by singles from Corthell and Katie Forbes. Hodgson then ripped her second RBI double of the day to put CofC up 3-0 and runners on second and third. Blakeney Sitton and Vaughn then in-turn reached on infield singles, putting CofC up 5-0. Over that stretch, the Cougars recorded seven consecutive hits.
The Cougars continued the offensive outburst in the sixth inning with seven consecutive hits for a second time. Ashton Jarrett started things off with a single followed by back-to-back bunt singles by Kaitlyn White and Corthell to load the bases. Next up, Forbes doubled to score two runs and put runners on second and third. Hodgson then singled up the middle and a Bulldog fielding error cleared the bases, putting CofC up 10-0. CofC continued the destruction with a double by Sitton in the next at bat followed by Vaughn's first collegiate home run, making the score 12-0, the eventual final.
NEXT UP:
The squad departs on Thursday for Clearwater, Fla., where they will compete in the University of South Florida Under Armour Invitational over the weekend. The Cougars open the Invitational against Central Michigan on Friday, March 4 at 10 a.m. followed by Columbia University at 12:30 p.m.
USC Upstate 6, Furman 0
USC Upstate 3, Furman 1 (8 innings)
SPARTANBURG, S.C. - Katie Zauner belted a two-run, walk-off home run in the bottom of the eighth inning to lift USC Upstate to a 3-1 victory over Furman and doubleheader sweep of the Paladins on Wednesday afternoon at Cyrill Stadium. Morgan Childers tossed a two-hit shutout and fanned 14 batters to propel Upstate to a 6-0 victory in game one.
The Spartans improved to a perfect 18-0 on the season while Furman slipped to 2-8.
Kim Brasil, who started the bottom of the eighth on second base in the international tiebreaker situation, moved to third on a sacrifice bunt to start the frame. Furman hurler Kayla Suskauer retired Cheyanna Ohlrich on a pop up for the second out of the frame, but Zauner hammered Suskauer's first two-out offering over the left field fence for her sixth homer of the season as Upstate kept its perfect record alive.
Furman took the early 1-0 lead in the top of the second by manufacturing a run. Lauren Collier singled to start the inning and moved to second on Jessie Homesley's sacrifice. After Collier advanced to third base on a ground out by Morgan Hughey, freshman Stephanie Spain lined a single to left field to put the Paladins out in front.
USC Upstate pulled even in the bottom of the fifth when pinch hitter Ashley Butler opened the inning with a solo homer to straightaway centerfield. The Spartans threatened to steal the victory in the last half of the seventh with a runner on second and one out, but Homesley snared a line drive and beat the Upstate runner back to the bag to complete the unassisted double play and force extra innings.
Emily Boyer sacrificed Spain over to third to open the eighth, but Childers fanned Taylor Beam and got Stephanie Field to pop up to the circle to end the threat.
Childers fanned five batters in 3.1 innings of no-hit relief to claim her second win of the day and improve to 13-0 on the season. Starter Hannah Alexander allowed one run on four hits in 4.2 innings of work.
Suskauer, who surrendered just two earned runs on five hits in 7.2 innings, suffered the loss for Furman to fall to 1-3. Spain went 2-for-3 with a double to lead Furman at the plate.
In game one, Childers tossed a complete-game, two-hitter and struck out 14 Paladins for her 12th victory of the season as Upstate prevailed 6-0.
Brasil staked the Spartans to a 2-0 lead in the second inning with a two-run double and laced another two-run double in the sixth to key a four-run inning. She finished 2-for-4 with four RBI while Jenna Torbert and Katelyn Molkenthin added two hits apiece.
Spain doubled for the Paladins who stranded all four of their runners in the shutout loss. Collier (1-5) was tagged with the loss allowing six runs, four earned, on nine hits over six innings.
Furman opens play in the Tennessee Classic in Knoxville, Tenn., on Friday when it battles the Louisiana Monroe Warhawks at 3 p.m. at Lee Stadium. The Paladins will face host an seventh-ranked Tennessee at 1 p.m. on Saturday before playing an exhibition against the Dutch National Team at 5 p.m. The exhibition contest was originally scheduled for 9 a.m.