ATHENS, W.Va. – The Concord University softball team rallied in game two to earn a split with West Liberty, falling in game one 6-2 before taking the second game 6-5, at the CU Softball Field in Mountain East Conference action Friday afternoon.
Concord is 12-14 on the season and 9-7 in the MEC while WLU is 11-13 overall and 5-9 against league foes.
Game 1: West Liberty 6 – Concord 2
West Liberty scored four runs in its first two at-bats to open up a 4-0 lead and held on for a four-run victory.
The Hilltoppers tacked on two more runs in the fifth inning, gaining a 6-0 advantage.
After three straight reached to start the CU fifth, senior catcher / designated hitter
Nicole Neri singled down the right field line to plate two runs and get Concord to within 6-2. However, the next seven Concord hitters were retired in order as the Mountain Lions fell in the opener.
Sophomore pitcher / outfielder
Darby Fitzpatrick, Neri, sophomore pitcher / first baseman
Rachel Pritchard and freshman catcher / outfielder
Kayle Starnes each had a hit with Neri driving in two runs.
Fitzpatrick (8-5) was charged with the loss, allowing four runs. Pritchard gave up two unearned runs while striking out two in 5.1 innings of relief.
Game 2: Concord 6 – West Liberty 5 (Nine Innings)
The Mountain Lions erased a 4-0 sixth-inning deficit, and junior outfielder
Abby Beatty launched a solo walkoff home run in the ninth to propel CU to the win.
West Liberty broke a scoreless tie in the third inning before adding an additional pair of runs in the fifth.
In the sixth, sophomore utility
Amber Stokes kept the inning alive with a two-out hit that dropped fair down the left field line. The next batter, Starnes, drove a 1-2 pitch into the left center field gap that scored Stokes and senior third baseman Alcyea Watson, and got Concord on the board, but still down 4-2. However, that quickly changed as junior first baseman
Lauren Blunt lifted her first home run of the season and the second of her career to left field that also scored Starnes and tied the game, 4-4.
But, the Hilltoppers quickly took back the lead with a score in the seventh. In its last regulation opportunity, sophomore second baseman / shortstop
Jenna Witt led off the seventh by driving a double to the deepest part of center field to set up a Concord rally. An error moved Witt to third with one out, and a wild pitch allowed the Harpers Ferry, West Virginia native to race home and tie the game.
CU was unable to get the winning run home in the seventh, and both teams were held scoreless in the eighth.
Back-to-back runners reached in the ninth and got in scoring position for WLU, but freshman pitcher
Tara Williams struck out the final batter of the top of the ninth, keeping the game tied, 5-5.
On the first pitch of the bottom half, Beatty sent her fifth home run of the season over the left field fence as Concord completed the comeback to down West Liberty, 6-5.
Fitzpatrick led CU's 11-hit attack with three while Beatty and Blunt each had two. Blunt and Starnes each had two RBI.
Williams was stellar in relief as she picked up her first collegiate win by going five innings. She limited the Hilltoppers to one run on four hits while striking out five.
The Mountain Lions travel to UVa.-Wise 3:00 p.m. Sunday for a doubleheader.
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