GREENWOOD, S.C. – The Concord University softball team won its first two games on Saturday over Belmont Abbey and King before falling to Erskine in the nightcap on the campus of Lander University.
The Mountain Lions are now 3-2 on the season.
Game 1: Concord 5 – Belmont Abbey 3
A five-run fourth inning was all the offense CU needed to get past the Crusaders in its first game of the day.
After being held to two hits in their first three at-bats, and facing a 2-0 deficit in the top of the fourth, the Mountain Lions broke out in a big way.
Senior utility
Jenna Witt smacked a leadoff home run in the frame to trim the Belmont Abbey lead in half. Senior pitcher/outfielder
Darby Fitzpatrick walked two batters later, and came around to score on a two-run home run off the bat of sophomore utility
Skylar Jenkins.
Concord continued to display its power in the inning as senior second baseman/outfielder
Amber Stokes blasted a two-run home run two batters after Jenkins' long ball. The three home runs gave CU a 5-2 lead.
After allowing two runs to the Crusaders in the third inning, freshman pitcher/outfielder
Josie Brewer (1-0) limited Belmont Abbey to one run and one hit over her final 3.1 innings of work. Overall,
Brewer tossed 6.1 innings allowing three runs on four hits while striking out five. Junior pitcher/outfielder
Cartney Schoolcraft got the final two outs of the game, on strikeouts, to pick up the save.
Witt was 3-for-4 at the plate with the home run. Jenkins added two hits and two RBI.
Game 2: Concord 4 – King 1 (Eight Innings)
Concord scored three runs in its first extra-innings at-bat to outlast the Tornado.
KU hit a solo home run in the third inning to break up a scoreless tie. However, the Mountain Lions answered in the top of the fourth as junior catcher/third baseman
Lauren Richardson and Fitzpatrick had back-to-back two-out doubles to get CU on the board.
Schoolcraft kept King quiet at the plate, though the Tornado did threaten to walk-off on the Mountain Lions in the seventh. After two quick outs, King got a pair of runs in scoring position, but Schoolcraft recorded one of her 11 strikeouts to send the game to extra innings.
A go-ahead, one-out double from sophomore third baseman/outfielder
Sarah Thompson plated the decisive run, and a costly KU error allowed both Thompson and senior utility
Jenna Witt to score on the same play to give Concord some more insurance.
Schoolcraft (1-0) retired the side in order in the bottom half to finish off her complete game, allowing a run on four hits to go with the 11 strikeouts which tied her career high.
Game 3: Erskine 7 – Concord 6
CU fought back to tie the game in the top of the seventh, but a bases-loaded sacrifice fly from the Fleet edged the Mountain Lions.
Down 6-4 in the sixth inning, sophomore pitcher/outfielder
Laura Thompson recorded a two-out RBI single to get Concord to within one of EC. Still down a run with one out in the seventh, junior catcher/utility
Kaitlyn Stewart plated Witt to tie the game.
However, three straight Erskine batters reached base to start the bottom of the seventh before the game-ending sacrifice fly.
Concord jumped out to a 2-0 lead through 1.5 innings. Witt homered in the first inning and Stewart came around to score on an Erskine error. But, EC quickly tied the game in the bottom of the second and led 5-2 after three innings before the Mountain Lions' late-inning comeback.
Jenkins and Witt each had two hits with Jenkins also homering in the game, a solo home run in the fifth.
Brewer (1-1) was charged with the loss in relief as she struck out three in 3.1 innings. L. Thompson started the game, going 2.1 innings as none of the five runs she allowed were earned.
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