ATHENS, W.Va. – The Concord University softball team swept two games from Notre Dame, 5-2 and 3-1, on Senior Day at the CU Softball Field on Monday afternoon.
Concord picks up its 30
th win of the season by winning both games and is now 30-17 overall and 18-10 in the Mountain East Conference. NDC drops to 19-27 on the year and is 7-17 in the MEC.
Game 1: Concord 5 – Notre Dame 2 (Nine Innings)
Senior utility
Kylie Kent blasted a walk-off three-run home run in the bottom of the ninth to lift the Mountain Lions to a game one victory.
Tied at 2-2 in the ninth, freshman pitcher/outfielder
Laura Thompson singled through the left side before her sister, freshman utility
Sarah Thompson, drew a one-out walk to move the winning run into scoring position. After a fly out pushed Concord to its final out of the rally, Kent smashed an 0-1 pitch inside the left field foul pole for the dramatic game-ending homer.
CU was held scoreless through its first four at-bats before junior outfielder
Darby Fitzpatrick ripped a double into the right center field gap to bring in pinch runner
Taylor Dickerson who entered the game after a previous double by senior outfielder
Abby Beatty.
The Mountain Lions drew even on two more doubles in the sixth as junior utility
Jenna Witt and Kent combined for back-to-back one-out two-base hits.
After giving up a two-out, two-run home run to NDC in the first, L. Thompson only allowed one more Notre Dame batter to reach second base in her 6.1 innings in the circle. Sophomore pitcher/outfielder
Cartney Schoolcraft came on in relief to move to 13-5 on the season as she fanned six batters in 2.2 innings. Thompson matched Schoolcraft with six more strikeouts to start the game. The duo allowed just four hits.
Kent went 2-for-5 with four RBI. L. Thompson added three hits at the top of the order.
Game 2: Concord 3 – Notre Dame 1
Concord scored all three runs in the sixth inning as two runs came in on a costly NDC error with two outs in the inning.
Fitzpatrick and Notre Dame's Taylor Olson combined to put up 10 zeros in the first five innings as neither offense could crack the starting pitchers.
In the top of the sixth, the Falcons recorded back-to-back doubles to start the inning to score first. However, Schoolcraft—tossing her second straight game of relief—induced a double play and got a strikeout to end the threat.
In the bottom half, L. Thompson walked to lead off before moving to second on a sacrifice bunt. Witt and Kent followed with singles as Kent's base hit pushed Thompson home to tie the game. With Beatty at the plate, a bounding ground ball was muffed by the Falcons' shortstop and rolled all the way to the left center field fence to bring home Kent and Witt.
The two-run lead was strong enough for Schoolcraft who retired NDC with two strikeouts in the seventh to secure the sweep.
Kent had two more hits in the nightcap as she finished 2-for-3. Fitzpatrick scattered six hits in her five innings of work before Schoolcraft (14-5) came on to allow a run on three hits while recording two strikeouts in two innings.
With Monday's sweep, Concord sets the single-season record for home wins in a season at 17.
CU travels to Glenville State 3:00 p.m. Friday for a MEC doubleheader.
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