Concord Shuts Down Charleston in Pair of 1-0 Wins

CHARLESTON, W.Va. – The Concord University softball team shut out Mountain East Conference foe Charleston for 14 consecutive innings, claiming a pair of 1-0 wins at the UC Softball Field Saturday afternoon.
 
With the doubleheader sweep, Concord improves to 8-13 overall and 3-1 against MEC opponents while UC falls to 8-6 overall and 1-3 against the MEC.
 
Game One: Concord 1 – Charleston 0
CU plated a run in the first inning and sophomore pitcher/infielder Madison Hollis took it the rest of the way.
 
Junior catcher/utility Gianna Sloan-Lebron and junior infielder Lacie Lewis collected back-to-back one-out walks to place a pair of runners on base in the first. Then, senior infielder Courtney Raines hit a ball up the middle to load the bases. With two outs, sophomore infielder Kendall Morgan picked up an RBI single to take a 1-0 lead.
 
Hollis retired the Golden Eagles in order to get her outing started in the first and kept the momentum rolling. She gave up a base hit in the home half of the second and issued a walk with one out in the third frame, but had no issue getting out of both jams.
 
She responded by facing the minimum in the fourth with some help from freshman pitcher/outfielder Reghan Hintz and Lewis turning a double play to end the fourth.
 
After giving up a single and a wild pitch with two outs in the fifth inning, Hollis picked up her third strikeout of the contest to keep UC scoreless.
 
Charleston had the game-tying run on third base with two outs in the seventh, but Hollis forced a groundout to end the game and earn the game one victory, 1-0.
 
Morgan led CU with two hits in the game and drove in CU's only run. Hollis improved to 1-1 in the circle after tossing a complete game shutout, only giving up four hits and issuing one base-on-balls pass while striking out four.
 
Game Two: Concord 1 – Charleston 0
Sophomore pitcher Josi Ervin mirrored Hollis' performance in game one by locking down the Charleston offense in game two.
 
The score was knotted 0-0 after two innings with one team having one hit each. That would change in the third as junior catcher/utility Morgan Gleason hit a double down the left field line with one out and moved to third on a flyout the following at-bat.
 
Morgan broke the silence one again, driving in Gleason on RBI single to left center and giving the Maroon and Gray a 1-0 advantage.  
 
Ervin kept her pitch count low, facing the three-batter minimum in the second, third, fourth, and fifth innings.
 
UC picked up a two out single in the sixth, but Ervin forced the next Charleston hitter into a groundout to end the frame.
 
The Lewisburg, W.Va. native locked down the Golden Eagles in the seventh 1-2-3 as Concord collected its first sweep over UC since the 2019 season, 1-0.
 
Additionally, it's the first road sweep of Charleston since 2018 and the first doubleheader shutout for the CU pitching staff since defeating Bluefield State 12-0 and 16-0 on the road last March.
 
Hollis led the Concord offense in game two with two hits, while Morgan picked up her second RBI on the day. Ervin (4-6) pitched the second complete game shutout of the afternoon, going the distance while only giving up two hits and fanning two batters.
 
The Mountain Lions stay on the road to take on Davis & Elkins Saturday and West Virginia Wesleyan Sunday in doubleheaders starting at 12:00 p.m.