WEST LIBERTY, W.Va. – The Concord University softball team split a doubleheader with West Liberty, winning 8-6 and losing 3-2, Saturday afternoon in Mountain East Conference play.
Game 1: Concord 8 – West Liberty 6
Concord (20-15, 8-8 MEC) started the game with a lead in the first inning with scoring four runs before junior
Jenna Witt's go-ahead two-run home run in the sixth.
Senior utility
Kylie Kent began the scoring with a single to the right side before sophomore utility
Skylar Jenkins came up a two-out single up the middle to Kent and Witt to push CU up 4-0 on West Liberty (19-14, 10-6 MEC).
The Mountain Lions began the fifth inning down, 5-4 after a WLU grand slam in the bottom of the fourth, but Jenkins tallied another RBI when she scored Kent on a single to tie the game.
With the game still knotted in the sixth, Witt hit her sixth home run of the season that also scored freshman utility
Sarah Thompson.
S. Thompson added an insurance run in the seventh as her sacrifice bunt plated sophomore outfielder
Dani Bloomingdale. The Hilltoppers added a run in the bottom of the inning, but junior pitcher/outfielder
Darby Fitzpatrick stranded the tying run on second to end the game.
Kent and Witt combined for five hits and three RBI. Jenkins notched three RBI on two hits. S. Thompson, Witt and Kent as the 2-3-4 hitters combined to score six of the eight runs.
Fitzpatrick (3-4) earned the win in relief as she allowed just one run in three innings.
Game 2: West Liberty 3 – Concord 2 (10 Innings)
The Hilltoppers were able to plate the winning run in the bottom of the 10
th on an obstruction call to edge past CU. Â
Entering the seventh inning down, 2-0, the Mountain Lions were able to tie up with the Hilltoppers. The rally was started by Kent and Witt who had back-to-back doubles. Kent was able to score on an error by WLU pitcher Makenzie Amend to send the game to extra innings.
Neither Concord nor West Liberty could break the tie until the 10
th inning when the Hilltoppers scored the aforementioned obstruction call on an error.
Sophomore pitcher
Cartney Schoolcraft (8-4) recorded a career-high of 11 while pitching the entire game for CU. Schoolcraft yielded just three hits and one earned run.
The Mountain Lions were held to four hits by Amend with Witt and Kent each recording a hit and a run.
CU travels to Wheeling Jesuit Sunday. Due to impending rain late Sunday, the games have been moved up to 10:00 a.m. and 12:00 p.m.Â
