WISE, Va. – The Concord University softball tea split a pair of games at UVa.-Wise Friday afternoon, falling to the host Cavaliers 11-3 before defeating Lees-McRae by the same score at the Bill Gatton Softball Field.
The Mountain Lions are 8-4 this season after Friday's results.
Game 1: UVa.- Wise 11 – Concord 3
CU scored a pair of runs in the top of the first, but was unable to contain the UVa.-Wise over the next two innings as the Cavaliers took an 8-2 advantage.
Senior outfielder
Alina Giles kept the first inning alive with a two-out walk that allowed senior catcher/utility
Kayla Sholter to step up to the plate and smack her first career home run to center field.
It appeared the Mountain Lions would get out of the bottom of the first with a 2-1 lead, however, the Cavaliers scored four runs with two outs to go up 5-2. UVa.-Wise upped the lead to 8-2 after two innings.
CU did get a run back in the top of the third as junior infielder
Kendall Morgan scored after her one-out triple. But, it was as close as Concord would get.
Morgan was 2-for-3 with her second triple of the year. Giles and Sholter each recorded a hit with Sholter's being the two-run homer. Senior outfielder
Morgan Gleason was 1-for-1 with a double.
Sophomore pitcher/outfielder
Reghan Hintz (2-3) was the pitcher of record for the Mountain Lions.
Game 2: Concord 11 – Lees-McRae 3
The Mountain Lions turned an early 2-0 deficit into a runaway victory to ensure a 1-1 record for the day.
LMC got on the board with a pair of runs in the bottom of the first, but CU got the bats going quickly in the top of the second with a five-run rally. After the first out in the inning, four straight Concord batters reached as Gleason and sophomore pitcher
Josi Ervin both had RBI singles to tie the game. The pair came around to score on the second triple in as many games by Morgan.
The next batter, senior infielder
Lacie Lewis, plated Morgan with an RBI double.
Lees-McRae cut the lead to 5-3 in bottom of the second, and the two-run advantage held up until four runs came across in the Concord fourth.
Lewis cracked her second double of the game to plate freshman outfielder
Grace Dodson. Lewis was able to score on Giles' third home run of the season. The inning was extended after a two-out double by freshman catcher/outfielder
Hannah Niten who came across on a base hit by senior pitcher/outfielder
Madison Hollis.
Up 9-3, Giles added to the lead in the top of the sixth with her first career multi-home run game, a solo shot to lead off the frame. Later in the inning, the lead went to eight after a Lees-McRae's error brought in Niten.
CU pounded out a season-high 16 hits. Giles, Niten and Hollis had all three this with Hollis going a perfect 3-for-3. The top three in the CU order, Morgan, Lewis and Giles combined for seven RBI. Lewis was 2-for-4.
For Giles, it was the first multi-home run game for a Mountain Lion since Lewis recorded two home runs at Davis & Elkins last March.
Hollis pitched four innings of shutout relief to improve to 5-1 in the circle. She gave up two hits and struck out one. Ervin started the game as she pitched two innings.
The Mountain Lions open the home season with a pair of games against Lock Haven and King, beginning at 12:00 p.m. Saturday.
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