College of Charleston 6, Chattanooga 0
MT. PLEASANT, S.C. – The College of Charleston softball team cruised to a 6-0 victory to complete a Southern Conference sweep of Chattanooga at Patriots Point on Sunday afternoon. The Cougar bats sprung for nine hits and Hope Klicker was dominant in the complete-game shutout.
CofC (24-16, 11-6 SoCon) has now won nine of their last ten by a combined score of 63-13.
Junior centerfielder Carly Corthell (Reno, Nev.) paced the Cougar bats in going 3-for-3 on the day. Allison Pedigo (Scottsville, Ky.) continued to swing a hot bat and drove in four runs.
Klicker (Walla Walla, Wash.) notched her 14th complete game of the season and scattered seven hits while striking out four hitters. Klicker did well under pressure and in working out of jams, causing the Mocs to strand 10 base runners.
CofC started immediately with Ashton Jarrett (Hanahan, S.C.) leading off the first with a single down the leftfield line to extend her hitting streak to 12 games. Lizzy Vaughn (Placerville, Calif.) laid down a sacrifice bunt and the defense elected to go to second to get Jarrett, but the senior’s speed was too much and the first two Cougars were aboard. Kelsey Hodgson (Woodstock, Ga.) then drew a walk to load the bases, and two batters later Pedigo doubled to right center to score everybody and the Cougars led 3-0.
The Cougars proceeded to tack on one run in each of the fourth, fifth and sixth innings to stretch their lead and ultimately put it out of reach.
In the third, Hodgson singled and scored from second on a Mackenzie Maples (Corona, Calif.) RBI single.
The fourth inning saw Corthell lead off with a single through the right side to initiate a bases-loaded rally, and she later trotted home when Pedigo drew a four-pitch walk.
Rebecca Mueller (Fair Oaks, Calif.) doubled to right center to lead off the fifth, and the freshman took third on a Corthell single two batters later. Jarrett then bounced a ball towards third base, and when the throw went across the infield for the out at first, Mueller darted home and slid head-first to make the score 6-0, the ultimate final.
Elon 4, Western Carolina 1
ELON, N.C, - Western Carolina softball (16-30, 6-12 Southern Conference) dropped the final game of the three-game series at Elon (14-26, 4-11 SoCon) 4-1 Sunday at Hunt Softball Park. The victory secures the SoCon series win for the Phoenix.
Just like in game one of the series, on Saturday, Elon jumped out early and took advantage of what was given to them including a Western Carolina error. Tomeka Watson led it off for the Phoenix with a double to right center. She moved to third on a sacrifice bunt by Aly Quntana and scored off an RBI single by Carleigh Nester. Emily Cameron hit a bunt single to the right side and Elon had runners at the corners. Nester scored on a wild pitch by Catamount starting pitcher Mallory Broome.
The Phoenix added two more runs in the bottom of the second. With two outs, a costly Western Carolina error, at third base, would lead to more runs for Elon. Caitlin O’Shea reached first on an errant throw to first and base and went all the way around to third. Watson made the Catamounts pay for the error as she hit a two RBI homerun over the left field wall.
After Broome gave up the homerun for Watson she was replaced by sophomore Jordan Garrett. Broome lasted 1.2 innings giving up four runs on four hits and falls to 4-8 on the season. Garrett tossed 4.1 innings of scoreless ball and only allowed four hits and also struck out two.
Taylor Sigmon’s one out double in the top of the fourth helped Western Carolina avoid the shutout and also broke up Elon pitcher Kayla Caruso’s no-hitter attempt. Haley Pace followed with a bloop single to right field that moved Sigmon to third and allowed Pace to get to third on the throw. Heather Chastain ground out to second base, but picked up an RBI, when Sigmon scored. Amber Steinhardt popped up to the shortstop for the third out and standing Pace at third.
Western Carolina had just two hits in the game, both coming in the fourth inning when the Catamounts scored their only run. Elon had eight hits.
Kansas 11, Furman 1
Greenville, S.C. – Kansas plated eight runs in the third inning and Alicia Pille limited Furman to an unearned run on three hits over five innings as the Jayhawks claimed the rubber game of a three-game series against the Paladins, 11-1, on Sunday morning at Pepsi Stadium.
The loss dropped Furman to 22-19 on the season while the Jayhawks improved to 26-11.
Seven consecutive batters reached base in the top of the third as Kansas turned a 3-1 advantage into a commanding 11-1 lead through two and half innings. Chaley Brickey and Maddie Stein ignited the Jayhawk outburst with RBI doubles before Mariah Montgomery greeted reliever Alex Sappington with a two-run single to right-center. A catcher’s interference and sacrifice fly added two more runs and Brickey batted in her second run of the frame with a single up the middle as Kansas scored its eight runs on seven hits and two Paladin errors.
Kansas had grabbed a 2-0 lead in the opening frame on Chanin Naudin’s two-run blast down the left field line. Furman answered in the bottom of the first when Sieara Bishop beat out an infield grounder to score Nikki Legg, who began the inning with a single. The Jayhawks added an unearned run on a passed ball in the second prior to the eight-run explosion an inning later.
Pille, 10-6 on the season, scattered three hits and allowed just one run in the five-inning, complete-game. She registered 10 strikeouts without walking a Paladin batter.
Ashley Newman went 3-for-3 at the plate to lead Kansas’ 13-hit attack. Naudin, Brickey, Montgomery and Maggie Hull each added a pair of hits for the Jayhawks, who entered the weekend ranked second nationally with a .355 team batting average.
Furman starter Shelby Parker suffered the loss after giving up seven runs, six earned, on seven hits in two and 1/3 innings. The Cherokee, N.C., native walked two batters and struck out two.
UNCG 5, Appalachian State 2
GREENSBORO, N.C. – Appalachian State University softball fell 5-2 to UNC Greensboro in Sunday afternoon’s rubber match at the UNCG Softball Stadium.
With the loss Appalachian falls to 21-15 overall on the season and 13-5 in the Southern Conference, while the Spartans improve to 29-11 overall and 9-5 in conference play.
After App State failed to score in the top of the first inning with runners on second and third, UNCG would be the first to push a run across the plate as it loaded the bases with two singles and a walk. A wild pitch from starting pitcher Alissa Schoelkopf allowed Aisha Figueroa to score and the Spartans to take a 1-0 lead with one out.
A walk to Eileen Horsmon with bases loaded added one more run for the Spartans before the Mountaineers retired the final two outs of the inning.
A walk to Dani Heichen and a two out double off the left field wall from Allie Cashion brought the Black and Gold within one of UNCG in the top of the third inning.
The Apps knotted the score at 2-2 when Cashion advanced to third on a wild pitch and touched home on a shallow right field single from senior Meghan Smith. UNCG starting pitcher Raeanne Hanks earned a strikeout to retire the final out of the inning before Appalachian was able to pull ahead of the Spartans.
UNCG loaded the bases for the second time in the contest in the bottom of the third inning as Dominique Madruga stepped in and lined a double off the left field wall to clear the bases and allow the Spartans to take the 5-2 lead over App State.
The Apps rallied in the top of the seventh inning when Lindsay Loudermilk singled and Cashion drew a walk to put two runners on and one out. With two outs sophomore Ashley Seering singled up the middle to load the bases for the Mountaineers before Alex Sohl was hit by a pitch to score Cashion and bring the score to 5-3.
A final strikeout from Hanks retired the final out of the contest as the Apps came within two runners of the victory, falling 5-3.
UNCG was highlighted by Madruga’s three-run double in the bottom of third, while Danielle Vega went 2-for-2 at the plate for the Spartans.
Cashion led the Appalachian offense as she went 2-for-3 with one RBI, while Smith added one hit and one RBI. Sophomore Sarah Warnock extended her hit streak to 15 games as she led off game three with a single to the left side of the field, while Sohl, Loudermilk, Seering and Caroline Rogers and added the final hits for the Black and Gold.
Schoelkopf (13-9) suffered the loss in the circle as she threw six innings with three strikeouts and seven hits.
Georgia Southern 1, Samford 0
STATESBORO, GA. – Georgia Southern Softball cemented a series sweep over Samford with a 1-0 win over the Bulldogs behind a two-hit shutout by Brooke Red. Tabby Douberley delivered the game-winning RBI by sending shortstop Kourtny Thomas in for the winning run.
The Eagles improve to 23-23 on the season with a 9-5 record in conference play. Samford is 11-27 on the year and falls to 3-12 in the league.
After five and a half innings of scoreless play, Georgia Southern took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the sixth with a two-out RBI single by none other than Tabby Douberley. She laced a ball down the line in right to score Kourtny Thomas after the junior doubled earlier in the inning. The RBI was Douberley’s 30th of the season.
Brooke Red delivered an outstanding outing in the circle, striking out five in a complete game shutout. She allowed just two Samford hits as she picked up her seventh win of the season.