CHARLESTON, S.C. -Coastal Carolina split a doubleheader with host Charleston Southern, Apr. 3, with the Lady Chants winning the first, 5-0, and dropping the second, 3-2. The Lady Chanticleers go to 24-13 and 2-2 in the Big South, while the Buccaneers move to 9-29 and 1-1 in league play.

In the opener, Coastal got all their runs in the top of the fourth inning. Freshman Lynee Hastings opened the inning with a triple and scored on senior Suzanne Kimbrell’s single to center. Senior Amanda DeGrendele sacrificed Kimbrell to second, but was safe on a throwing error by CSU and both runners moved up an extra base. Freshman Sara Hostetler then singled home Kimbrell to push the advantage to 2-0. After a groundout advanced Hostetler to second and a strikeout, senior Holly Lee singled to center field to drive in DeGrendele and Hostetler and give CCU a 4-0 lead. Senior Kelli Julg then singled to right, driving in Lee with Coastal's fifth run.

Freshman Christine Doyle scattered seven hits to get her second consecutive and fifth overall shutout and go to 13-6 on the year.

Charleston Southern jumped on top in the bottom of the first, as Jen Foster drew a lead-off walk. Foster advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt and moved to third on a groundout to DeGrendele at first. She then scored on a passed ball to give the Bucs a 1-0 lead. CSU added to the lead in the bottom of the fourth, scoring two runs on Jacqui Mines two-out double to center field to go up 3-0.

Coastal fought back in the top of the fifth, as Kimbrell doubled to open the inning and eventually scored on Hostetler's sacrifice fly to cut the margin to 3-1. The Lady Chants got another in the top of the sixth. Pinch hitter Sara Thompson got on by a CSU error, and Lee then singled to put a pair of runners on with no outs. A sacrifice bunt by Julg moved the runners to second and third for senior Morgan Tolleson to single to center and drive in the run to make it 3-2. However, CCU could not push another run across in the inning. Coastal threatened in the seventh, getting the lead-off runner on base but could not advance the runner past second.

In the doubleheader, Lee was 4-for-6 with a walk, 2 RBIs and one run scored. The pitching staff has done solid work recently. The group of Doyle, Nelson and senior Morgan Tolleson have combined for three shutouts in the last four games and gave up their first earned run in a stretch of 40.2 innings, dating back to the fifth inning of the nightcap against Birmingham-Southern, Mar 26.

The Lady Chanticleers are back in action, Sunday, Apr. 6, hosting Big South-rival Elon at 2 p.m. for a conference doubleheader at Coastal Carolina Softball Field.