ASU Splits with N.C. State

RALEIGH, N.C.-Diana Cook made the first home run in program history a dramatic one, with a three-run blast to center field to give Appalachian State University's softball squad a 5-2 victory in the first game of two at N.C. State. Cook's round tripper to straight away center field broke a 2-2 tie, but Appalachian dropped the nightcap, 6-0.

Down 2-0 after one inning, ASU's Caitlyn Ryan walked to lead off the second. Pitcher Marie Watson singled to put runners on first and second. Sarah Gough continued the rally with a single that scored pinch runner Letitia Lennon to make it a 2-1 ball game. Appalachian loaded the bases for Amber Handy, who walked and forced pinch runner Mary Lutz home and knot the score, at 2-2.

Appalachian (6-8) tallied the winning runs in the top of the seventh, after Wendy Lewis reached on an error and Handy was hit by a pitch. With runners on first and second, Cook notched the first home run in the four-year history of the program -- three-run blast -- to give Appalachian a 5-2 lead.

With one Wolfpack runner on and one out, in the bottom of the seventh, Watson induced a groundball double play to secure the win.

N.C. State returned the favor in the second game behind the arm of Abbie Sims, who struck out 13 Appalachian batters in a 6-0 setback.

After Handy singled to lead off the second game, the Mountaineers registered only one more hit the rest of the way.

The Wolfpack (5-10) once again jumped on the Mountaineers early, getting two
runs in the third inning when Jen Chamberlin hit her second homerun of the year with a two-run shot to left.

Appalachian posted its most serious threat in the fifth when Dawn Malone doubled to start the frame. Two batters later, Handy was hit by pitch to put runners on first and second with one away. Sims worked herself out of a jam in the fifth inning, as she retired the next two batters to end the inning.

Up by a score of 2-0, Sims helped her own cause, by belting a two-run homer in the bottom half of the fifth. N.C.
State added two more runs in the bottom of the sixth for the final
margin of 6-0.