ATHENS, W.Va. – Senior outfielder
Abby Beatty came out with a pinch-hit, walk-off home run in game two as the Concord University softball team earned a split with West Virginia State Saturday afternoon at the CU Softball Field in the Mountain East Conference.
The Mountain Lions (9-8, 1-1 MEC) fell in game one 6-1, but bounced back to defeat WVSU (8-5, 1-1 MEC), 7-6, in eight innings.
Game 1: West Virginia State 6 – Concord 1
The Yellow Jackets scored five unanswered runs as it broke open a 1-1 tie in the third inning.
After West Virginia State took a 1-0 lead in the top of the first, a WVSU fielding error allowed freshman pitcher/outfielder
Laura Thompson to score from second on junior utility
Jenna Witt's infield single. Thompson had led off the game with an opposite field double before scoring two batters later.
WVSU recorded two doubles of its own in the third inning that was responsible for two runs and gave it a 3-1 edge.
It appeared the Mountain Lions may rally in the fourth inning after loading the bases with two outs, but West Virginia State escaped the jam and kept its two run edge. The Yellow Jackets added three runs in the top of the seventh for the final margin of victory.
Thompson (3-3) allowed three runs on five hits in 3.2 innings as she was charged with the loss.
Junior pitcher/outfielder
Darby Fitzpatrick had two hits to pace the CU offense.
Game 2: Concord 7 – West Virginia State 6
Before Beatty's home run, CU had to erase a 6-1 deficit to force extra innings.
Trailing 6-1 after four innings, the Mountain Lions began their comeback with two runs in both the fifth and sixth innings. With the bases loaded in the fifth, senior catcher/first baseman
Lauren Blunt reached on an infield single to plate Thompson who had started the frame with her own base hit. The next batter, senior utility
Kylie Kent, recorded a sacrifice fly to get freshman utility
Sarah Thompson home.
Down three in the sixth, junior utility
Amber Stokes singled to start another rally. The next CU run was scored by freshman outfielder
Taylor Dickerson, who was pinch running for Stokes, as she crossed on a WVSU error that would have been the second out of the inning. After Dickerson came in to score, Witt lined a single into the outfield to plate L. Thompson.
Concord had to manufacture the tying run in the seventh. Kent came up with a one-out double and advanced to third on a wild pitch. With Kent now at third base, sophomore catcher/utility
Kaitlyn Stewart hit a slow rolling ball to shortstop that got Kent home to tie the game.
Sophomore pitcher/outfielder
Cartney Schoolcraft worked around a lead-off walk in the top of the eighth and stranded the potential go-ahead run at third base to end the threat.
On the second pitch of the bottom of the eighth, Beatty blasted her second home run of the season and the 18
th of her career to propel CU to the win.
The Thompson sisters and Witt each had two hits to lead a 12-hit attack. Blunt drove in a pair of runs for the Maroon and Gray.
Schoolcraft (4-2) tossed 142 pitches and all eight innings as she allowed four earned runs on six hits while striking out five.
The Mountain Lions host Charleston 1:00 p.m. Sunday in a conference doubleheader.
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