ATHENS, W.Va. – The Concord University softball team won both games of its Mountain East Conference doubleheader against Alderson Broaddus Saturday afternoon at the CU Softball Field, 3-2 and 8-1.
Game 1: Concord 3 – Alderson Broaddus 2 (10 Innings)
Concord (17-29, 10-16 MEC) came out on top of a pitchers' duel by walking off Alderson Broaddus (15-31, 4-22 MEC) in 10 innings.
Senior third baseman/outfielder
Sarah Thompson was the final out in the ninth inning, so she began the tenth on second base. With two outs in the inning, Thompson scored on a throwing error to walk-off the Battlers.
Alderson Broaddus gained an early 2-0 lead by scoring runs in the second and third inning.
In the bottom of the third, senior pitcher/outfielder
Laura Thompson drew a one-out walk. She then proceeded to steal second base. Noticing that nobody was covering third base, L. Thompson took off for the bag, drawing a throwing error that allowed her to score on the play.
Still down 2-1 in the bottom of the fifth, freshman shortstop/second baseman
Kayla McCraw hit a leadoff single into right field. Freshman second baseman/outfielder
Aubrey Matice singled on a bunt while moving McCraw up to second. After a sacrifice bunt from L. Thompson that put both runners in scoring position, S. Thompson hit a sacrifice fly to score McCraw and tie the game at 2-2.
At the plate, S. Thompson tallied the only RBI for CU. Even though hitless, L. Thompson reached base three times and had two steals.
Freshman pitcher/first baseman
Caitlyn Bauer (10-11) went the distance in a winning effort in the circle. Bauer allowed one earned run and tied a career-high in strikeouts by fanning 10 batters.
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Game 2: Concord 8 – Alderson Broaddus 1
Concord plated seven runs in the first five innings and held A-B to just two hits to complete the sweep of the Battlers.
L. Thompson and S. Thompson drew back-to-back walks to begin the bottom of the first inning. Both runners advanced into scoring position on a wild pitch two batters later. A groundout allowed L. Thompson to score and gave CU a 1-0 lead, while S. Thompson advanced to third. Concord would go up 2-0 on an error in the infield that allowed S. Thompson to reach home.
With one out in the bottom of the third, junior catcher/outfielder
Jolie Privett singled to center field. Privett proceeded to steal second on the next at bat. Freshman pitcher/infielder
Rachael Koller singled into left field, however a fielding error allowed Privett to score and Koller to reach second. Concord extended its lead to 4-0 on an RBI double from senior catcher/utility player
Mikayah Pulliam that plated Koller.
In the bottom of the fifth, freshman shortstop/utility player
Courtney Raines roped a double into center field to leadoff the inning. A bunt single from Privett advanced Raines to third to put runners at the corners with no outs. Koller cleared the bases on a triple down the right field line to put Concord up 6-0. Pulliam drew a walk and was pinch ran for by Matice. Matice swiped second, while Koller scored on the throw to make it a 7-0 ball game.
After A-B scored a run in the top of the sixth, S. Thompson worked a walk with one out in the bottom of the frame. A groundout advanced S. Thompson to second base, and an RBI single from Privett scored Thompson to make it 8-1, Concord.
Offensively, Privett batted 3-for-4 with two RBI. Koller tallied two hits including a triple, and two RBI in the game.
Koller (7-14) earned the complete game victory in the circle, striking out seven batters and allowing no earned runs.
Concord hosts Notre Dame Sunday at noon for Senior Day at the CU Softball Field.
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