CHARLESTON, W.Va. – The Concord University softball team finished off a perfect 4-0 weekend with wins over Edinboro and Shepherd Saturday afternoon at the UC Softball Field.
The Mountain Lions (7-3) defeated Edinboro 10-2 before taking down Shepherd with a walkoff sacrifice fly in the bottom of the seventh, 1-0.
Game 1: Concord 10 – Edinboro 2
CU pounded out a season-high 11 hits while also recording a season-best 10 runs as it ended the game in the sixth inning.
The Mountain Lions scored in their first at-bat as senior infielder
Lacie Lewis scored junior infielder
Kendall Morgan on an RBI single. EU had an immediate answer as it plated the tying run in the top of the second inning.
With the game still tied at 1-1, senior outfielder
Alina Giles homered for the second straight game as she blasted a solo home run to center field in the bottom of the third.
Then in the fourth, Concord delivered one of its two four-run innings.
Senior pitcher/infielder
Madison Hollis walked to being the fourth before sophomore utility
Kristy McCord and junior pitcher
Josi Ervin each singled to load the bases. As the order flipped over, Morgan unloaded the bases with a three-run triple to center field. Two batters later, Morgan scored on a flyout by Giles.
With the five-run cushion, Ervin retired 11 straight batters from the second inning until a two-out solo home run in the sixth by the Fighting Scots.
Another explosive inning in the bottom of the sixth gave Concord a mercy-rule victory.
The four-run sixth started when Giles drew a bases-loaded walk. The next batter, senior catcher/utility
Kayla Sholter was hit by a pitch, and freshman catcher/outfielder
Hannah Niten finished off the game with a two-run single.
Morgan finished 2-for-3 with a triple and three RBI. She also scored all three times she was on base. Niten went 2-for-4 with a pair of RBI. Ervin helped her own cause with a 2-for-3 game and two runs scored.
Giles drove in three runs.
Ervin (1-0) tossed a complete game as she allowed two runs on three hits in her season debut.
Game 2: Concord 1 – Shepherd 0
The Mountain Lions were held hitless in the game until a leadoff triple by Lewis in the bottom of the seventh that turned into the game-winning run.
Lewis squared up her first career triple to right field to leadoff the seventh. After a strikeout by Shepherd pitcher Madelayne Ruffner, Lewis scored on Niten's sacrifice fly to right field to give Concord its second 1-0 victory of the weekend.
Sophomore pitcher/outfielder
Reghan Hintz matched zeros with Ruffner throughout the game. The Melfa, Virginia native used a double play to face the minimum in the second inning. In the third, she worked around a leadoff double to keep the game scoreless. And another highlight for Hintz was stranding a pair of runners on base in the fourth and fifth with one out in each inning.
Hintz recorded 12 of her 21 outs on the ground as she recorded her first career complete-game shutout. She improved to 3-2 on the season as she scattered five hits and struck out three.
The only CU batters to reach base were Lewis and Hollis.
Winners of seven straight games, Concord faces UVa.-Wise and Lees-McRae Friday in a three-team round robin at UVa.-Wise.
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