Softball Drops Pair to Winthrop
More Information:
Conway, S.C.- The Coastal Carolina softball team dropped a pair of contests this afternoon, Sat., April 25 against the Winthrop Eagles, 9-0 in five innings in game one, and 9-3 in game two.
The Eagles jumped out to the early 2-0 lead in the top of the first, as Morgan Hogan had an RBI single through the right side. Ashley Revell had a sacrifice fly to centerfield to account for the first two runs, giving the Lady Eagles the early advantage off of Coastal Carolina starter Ivy McCranie (Nashville, Ga./Berrien).
Winthrop added to their advantage in the second, knocking out McCranie in favor of reliever Katelin Edwards (Greer, S.C./Newberry College). Each pitcher had trouble in the frame, as McCranie walked the first two batters of the inning. Edwards entered with runners on first and second, and threw four-consecutive wild pitches to score a trio of Winthrop runs to stretch the Lady Eagle lead to 5-0. Winthrop added another run on a Veronica Berrie RBI single to bring the lead to 6-0 through an inning and a half of action.
Down 8-0 in the fourth, McCranie re-entered the contest, allowing an unearned run. Left fielder Stacy Snellings (Richmond, Va./Mills E. Godwin) had a big defensive play in the inning, as Tessa Thomas lined a shot to left field that came off the glove of shortstop Sarah Maples (Pasadena, Texas/Deer Park). The alert Snellings rushed into shallow left field, and threw out Lady Eagle baserunner Kelly Blea at the plate to keep the dish to keep the score from hitting double digits in favor of the Eagles.
Winthrop hurler Cari Wooldridge was literally untouchable in the contest, throwing a five inning no-hitter, and improves to 8-9 on the season. She walked a batter while striking out a pair of Chants.
McCranie takes the loss, and falls to 3-6 on the season. The pitcher worked 3.1 innings, allowing four hits on five runs. Edwards was ineffective in relief, seeing her first action in 10 days due to illness. In 1.2 innings, the hurler allowed four runs on four hits, and walked three while throwing four wild pitches.
Game two was a duel between Big South Preseason Pitcher of the Year runner-ups Megan Evans and Ashley Frederick (Lusby, Md./Patuxent), Coastal Carolina looked to get on the board early, as Brittany Birnbaum (Chino Hills, Calif./Ayala) doubled to left-center with one out in the first. A batter later, Stacy Snellings (Richmond, Va./Mills E. Godwin) walked to put runners on first and second, but Winthrop pitcher Megan Evans was able to fan Sarah Maples (Pasadena, Texas/Deer Park) to end the potential Coastal Carolina threat.
The Lady Eaglesfc would take a 1-0 lead in the top of the second, as leadoff batter Veronica Berrie hit a solo homer over the left field fence off of Chanticleer hurler Frederick to take the advantage. Frederick walked the next two batters, placing runners on first and second with still no one out, but the pitcher worked herself out of the jam, holding the tally at 1-0. In the bottom half of the second, the Chants strung together two-out singles off the bat of Kelsey Riffel (Wichita, Kan./Maize) and Ashley Pisone (Greensburg, Pa./Hempfield), but Evans forced Mecaela Ballard (Groves, Texas/Galveston) to fly out to end the inning and the potential threat.
Winthrop led off the third with three-consecutive singles, the latter coming off the beat of Ashlee Revell for an RBI to score Taylor Wright for the Lady Eagles' second run of the contest. With runners on second and third with one out, Stoddert singled to the shortstop to score another run, and extend the lead to 3-0. Winthrop would go on to score three more runs on the inning, totaling six hits and five runs in the frame.
Coastal Carolina would get on the board in the bottom of the fourth, as Morgan Dodd (Chattanooga, Tenn./Girls Preparatory) and Olivia Williams (Whiteville, N.C./Greensboro College) singled back-to-back with one out. The Chanticleers cut then cut the WU lead in half with one swing of the bat, as sophomore Ashley Pisone (Greensburg, Pa./Hempfield) blasted her third home run of the season, a shot over the left-centerfield fence to bring Coastal Carolina within three runs of the lead at 6-3.
With Coastal Carolina within three runs of the lead, Wooldridge entered in relief for Winthrop, and threw three effective innings in relief for her fourth save of the season.
Winthrop added a trio of insurance runs in the away half of the seventh, on the heels of a two RBI double off the bat of Megan Chapman, and an RBI single by Lisa Kingsmore to stretch the Lady Eagle lead to the final score of 9-3.
Evans improves to 15-7 on the season in the win, as she threw four innings, allowing three runs on seven hits and fanned four. Wooldridge threw the final three innings, allowing only one hit and struck out three Chanticleers. Frederick falls to 6-10 after allowing six runs on seven hits and struck out four. McCranie tossed four innings of relief and gave up three runs on five hits to go along with a trio of strikeouts.
Coastal Carolina and Winthrop conclude the three-game set tomorrow at 1 p.m. from Coastal Carolina Softball Field.
