ATHENS, W.Va. – The Concord University softball team split a pair of games Saturday afternoon at the CU Softball Field as the Mountain Lions lost 10-3 to Lock Haven, but bounced back with an 8-7 walkoff victory over King.
Concord is 9-5 on the year after Saturday's 1-1 record.
Game 1: Lock Haven 10 – Concord 3
The Mountain Lions jumped out to a 3-0 lead after two innings, but were unable to keep the LHU bats down in the later innings.
The first two batters reached in the CU second via walks before Lock Haven got back-to-back strikeouts. However, CU's offense delivered with two outs as after a wild pitch pushed both base runners into scoring position, junior infielder
Kendall Morgan roped a single to right field to plate both.
Morgan would steal second before racing in on a single to left field by senior infielder
Lacie Lewis.
Sophomore pitcher/outfielder
Reghan Hintz locked down the Bald Eagles' offense until LHU came through with three runs in the bottom of the fourth, all with two outs.
The Mountain Lions pushed two runners into scoring position with one out in the bottom of the fourth but came up empty.
The game stayed tied until the top of the sixth when Lock Haven plated three runs, and the Bald Eagles tacked on four runs in the seventh.
Morgan and Lewis were both 2-for-4 at the top of the CU order. Morgan drove in one run while Lewis added one RBI.
Senior pitcher/infielder
Madison Hollis (5-2) was charged with the loss in the contest as she worked two innings of relief. Hintz notched five strikeouts in five innings of work.
Game 2: Concord 8 – King 7
Concord let a late lead slip away before walking off KU in the second game of the day.
The Mountain Lions took their first lead of the day on a bases-clearing triple by senior outfielder
Alina Giles in bottom of the fifth to go up 6-5. Giles came in to score later in the frame to take the lead to 7-5.
King was able to tie the game in the top of the seventh inning with a two-run triple.
But, Giles helped deliver a walkoff victory for CU in the bottom of the seventh. She lifted a double to right field to lead off the inning before being sacrificed over to third by freshman catcher/outfielder
Hannah Niten. The next batter, Hollis, shot her own double out to right field to bring in Giles for the winning run.
King came out hot as the Tornado scored five times across the first two innings to go up 5-0.
Concord plated a run in the second before the offense got rolling during a six-run fifth inning.
The first three batters all reached to begin the inning. Morgan came through with an RBI single before Lewis did the same with an infield hit that scored a run. With the bases still loaded, Giles delivered the biggest hit of the inning.
A throwing error by the Tornado on Niten's ball in play brought in Giles.
Hollis (6-2) settled in after a tough first two innings. At one point, she retired eight of nine batters between the second and fifth innings. She struck out two in her complete game.
Giles was 2-for-4 with three RBI. Hollis added a two-hit with the game-winning RBI. At the bottom of the lineup, freshman outfielder
Grace Dodson was 2-for-3.
The Mountain Lions will be off from action until March 14-15 when they face four regional teams in Salem, Virginia and Troutville, Virginia.
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