Coastal Carolina's softball squad was swept by visting Birmingham-Southern, Sunday, in Big South Conference action. The Panthers were victorious in game one, 4-3, and won the second game in 10 innings by a score of 5-4. BSC moves to 19-19 overall and 3-3 in conference play, and Coastal drops to 17-16, 1-3 in the Big South.

In the first game, Coastal Carolina got on the board first in the bottom of the second when freshman Allison Cantrell doubled to left center, driving in three runs. The Panthers answered back in the top of the fourth when, after two walks to open the inning, junior Nikki Rombough singled up the middle to load the bases. With one out on the board, senior Dawn Treadwell singled to third base, bringing sophomore Jennifer Wellborn across the plate to close the margin to 3-1. Junior Tifani Talbert followed up with another single, scoring freshman Sloane Laiche, and junior Katherine Katz came in as a pinch hitter and sent a single down the left field line, bringing Rombough home and tying the game up at 3-3 heading into the bottom of the fourth.

In the top of the sixth, BSC put another run on the board on another RBI single from Talbert to bring Rombough, who got on base via a CCU error, across the plate in what would ultimately be the game-winner, putting the Panthers up, 4-3.

Junior Kristina Villavicencio picked up the win on the mound for the Panthers, pitching all seven innings and giving up seven hits while striking out five batters to advance to 12-10. Brittany Nelson was the starting pitcher for CCU and spent 4.0 innings on the mound before Meagen Johnson came in to replace her for the remaining three. Nelson gave up four of BSC’s five hits and struck out two batters, but Johnson picked up the loss, dropping to 3-2 on the season.

Carla Hood and Cantrell each recorded two hits for the Lady Chanticleers, while Talbert led the Panthers, going 2-of-3 at the plate with two RBI.

In the nightcap, the Panthers went up 1-0 in the top of the fourth on another RBI single from Talbert, scoring sophomore Nova Gaines, who was pinch running for Rombough. CCU evened it up in the bottom of the sixth when, with one out and runners on second and third, Ashley Gerdts hit an RBI single to bring in a run.

The score remained tied and the game went into extra innings, with BSC scoring three runs in the top of the eighth. The Panthers led off with a single from senior Lacey Barth, advancing freshman Blaes Schmissrauter, who was pinch-running for junior Erin Haggard and placed on second due to the tiebreaker rule, to third. Barth then stole second, and Schmissrauter scored on a CCU throwing error to put the Panthers up, 2-1. Owens stepped up to the plate next, singling up the middle to bring Barth across the plate for the 3-1 lead. After a fly-out for BSC’s first out of the inning, Laiche singled and advanced Owens to second. Rombough then reached on a fielder’s choice and Owens scored on another error by the Lady Chants, putting the Panthers up, 4-1.

CCU rallied back in the bottom of the eighth, with Ashley Gerdts doubling to place runners on second and third. Delane Grainger tripled to left field, scoring Gerdts and Irene Finley to close the margin to 4-3 in favor of BSC. Cantrell followed that up with an RBI single, scoring Grainger to tie it up, 4-4.

The Panthers scored again on the first pitch of the 10th inning when Owens singled through the right side to score Barth and put BSC up 5-4. The Panthers held CCU scoreless in the bottom of the 10th and came away with the win.

Villavicencio, who came in in the eighth, picked up the win to move to 13-10. She gave up five hits in three innings, and sophomore Raquel Sanfiel, who started for the Panthers, gave up seven hits and struck out six batters in 6.2 innings. Trish Kretchman started on the mound for CCU and gave up eight hits in 7.1 innings, striking out one batter. Johnson came in to pitch 2.2 innings in relief and picked up the loss, dropping to 3-3.

For CCU, Gerdts was 3-of-4, while Grainger tallied two RBI. Over the two games, Coastal Carolina left 27 runners stranded, including 17 in the finale, while BSC left 16 on base.

Coastal returns to action, going south to take on the College of Charleston, Wed., Apr. 6 at 4 p.m.