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Box Score 2 ATHENS, W. Va. – The Concord University softball team split a Mountain East Conference doubleheader against Fairmont State University Saturday afternoon at the CU Softball Field in Athens, W. Va. The Mountain Lions defeated the Falcons, 5-4, in the opener before dropping a 1-0 decision in game two.
Concord exits its first weekend of MEC play at 19-7 overall and 3-1 in league games. Fairmont State leaves Saturday 10-6 overall and 1-1 in conference competition.
Freshman outfielder
Lauren Lewis paced the Mountain Lions Saturday, combining to go 4-for-5 with one run, one RBI and one stolen base. Freshman
Alayna Furr tallied two hits a run and stolen base as well on the day.
Game One: Concord 5 – Fairmont State 4 (Box Score)
Concord and Fairmont State traded runs throughout a closely contested opener before the Mountain Lions came away with an eventual 5-4 victory thanks to a game-winning single in the fifth inning by sophomore catcher
Alyssa Morris that scored junior first baseman / pitcher
Lacey McDougall.
CU collected seven hits in the opener, led by Lewis' 2-for-2, one-run, one-RBI performance. Sophomore shortstop
Kristen Rose, junior outfielder
Jessica Seymour, Morris, McDougall and Furr all tallied hits as well in game one with Rose's and McDougall's going for a double and home run, respectively.
In the circle, sophomore pitcher
Allie Reid scattered 10 hits and four runs while striking out four batters over seven innings to pick up the win, which improved her record to 10-2 on the season. Reid has now won her last three starts.
After a Falcon run to leadoff the game McDougall quickly evened the score via a solo home run to left field in the bottom of the first. The homer was her team-leading seventh of the season. It has taken McDougall just 27 games to set a career-high in RBI at 32. Entering the season, McDougall's previous career-best was 31 RBI as a freshman in 2012.
FSU retook the lead off of a pair of runs in the third only to have Concord answer back with three runs in the bottom half of the inning. Seymour started the frame by reaching base on a leadoff single followed by a stolen base before scoring off of a Rose double. Two batters later, Rose came home on Lewis' single to left field. In turn, Lewis scored off of an infield single to give the Mountain Lions a 4-3 advantage on Fairmont State.
The Falcons once again clawed back into the contest on an RBI-double by Ericka Aversa to tie the game at 4-4. However, the Mountain Lions rallied for the win in its next at-bats when McDougall reached second base on a fielding error to start the fifth which allowed her to easily score when Morris shot a single up the middle to put Concord up 5-4.
Fairmont State's best chance to tie the game came when FSU put runners on first and second with two outs in the sixth, but Reid stranded the runners by getting Courtney Iacobacci to groundout to third base. Reid threw a perfect seventh inning to ensure the Concord victory.
Game Two: Fairmont State 1 – Concord 0 (Box Score)
Game two turned into a pitching duel between McDougall and Fairmont State's Bailey Shade.
McDougall threw a complete game for CU. The run the Falcons did manage against McDougall was an unearned run in the fourth inning. McDougall scattered nine hits over seven innings and only had to throw 85 pitches. She was able to produce 18 ground balls out and had 10 assists for the game.
Fairmont State threatened to score in the second inning when Iacobacci doubled down the left field line, but Lewis fielded the ball and was able to throw out Amanda Skidmore at home plate with Morris reaching back towards home plate to apply the run-preventing tag.
FSU struck in the fourth when Joni Tyree's two-out groundball resulted in a fielding error that allowed Iacobacci, who singled earlier in the inning, to score from second base for the game's only run.
The Mountain Lions' best chance to tie the game came in the bottom of the fourth when Lewis reached base on a two-out single and proceeded to steal second base. Furr then singled and stole second base successfully as well to give CU runners on second and third. However, Shade managed to get out of the jam by forcing an inning-ending popout to shortstop.
Reid and Lewis each produced multi-hit games for the Mountain Lions with both going 2-for-3.
The Mountain Lions return to the field 2:00 p.m. Wednesday at UVa.-Wise.
