Concord Drops Two Decisions to West Virginia Wesleyan

ATHENS, W.Va- The Concord University softball team dropped two games against #13 West Virginia Wesleyan on Saturday afternoon in Mountain East Conference action at the CU Softball Complex. 
 
Concord is now 14-18 this season (3-5 MEC), while West Virginia Wesleyan is 19-3 (7-1 MEC).
 
GAME 1: West Virginia Wesleyan 2 –Concord 1  
Concord's seventh-inning rally comes up short.

With the two teams combining for just five hits through the first six innings, the Bobcats broke the 0-0 deadlock when Sara Scoone singled home Olivia Gore to give WVWC a 1-0 lead. 

The Bobcats extended the lead to 2-0  in the top of the seventh after Gore doubled home Tori Pogue. 

Concord attempted to get back into the game when senior outfielder Lauren Lewis singled to second base to lead off the inning. Senior pitcher Allie Reid doubled to right field to put runners on second and third with no outs. 

Lewis was then called out on a close play at home on a fielder's choice by freshman second baseman/shortstop Jenna Witt to preserve the two-run lead for the Bobcats. 

Sophomore outfielder Linsdey Stahl, pinch running for Reid, stole home on a pickoff attempt by the Bobcats to score Concord's run and cut the WVWC lead to 2-1. However, the Mountain Lions couldn't put the tying run across the plate to fall, 2-1. 

The Mountain Lions accumulated five hits from senior shortstop Alayna Furr, sophomore infielder Kylie Kent, Lewis, Reid, and Witt. 

Reid (5-7), took the loss in the circle for Concord, striking out two batters while allowing eight hits.
    
GAME 2: West Virginia Wesleyan 10 Concord 7
After falling behind 7-0, the Mountain Lions came back to force extra inning, but Wesleyan plated three runs in the eighth in a narrow defeat for Cu.

The Mountain Lions found themselves in an early deficit as the Bobcats tacked on two runs in the top of the first before adding five runs in the second inning to take a 7-0 lead heading to the bottom of the second. 

Concord immediately found a response in the bottom of the second when the Mountain Lions took advantage of two errors from the Bobcats to score three runs. 

Freshman pitcher/outfielder Darby Fitzpatrick singled home senior third baseman Courtney Purtell and Reid. Furr provided the other RBI in the inning to score Fitzpatrick from
second and cut into the Bobcat lead, 7-3, after two innings. 

Four more runs in the bottom of the third brought Concord all the way back to tie the game at 7-7. 

Sophomore outfielder/pitcher Abby Beatty led off the inning with a double before an error by the Bobcats allowed Lewis to reach first base and Beatty to score from second base. 

Witt stepped up and rocketed her second home run of the season to score Lewis and bring the Mountain Lions within one. 

The final RBI of the inning was provided by senior pitcher/outfielder Sarah Herndon, who brought home Purtell from third on a sacrifice fly. 

The two teams managed just five hits for the rest of the game, with Herndon escaping a situation with two runners on second and third and one out in the top of the sixth inning.

After a scoreless seventh, the Bobcats scored three runs in the top of the eighth inning to take a 10-7 win in extras.

Witt and Fitzpatrick each notched two RBI on the day, with Fitzpatrick posting her second and third RBI of the season for a career-high.     

Beatty posted her 12^th multi-hit game of the season while adding a run scored.

Concord continues MEC play with two games against UVa.-Wise at home on Wednesday.