April 13, 2011

Box Score | Photo Gallery

CONWAY, S.C. - The Coastal Carolina University softball team took the final game of the three-game series against Charleston Southern, defeating the Buccaneers 4-1 on April 13 at the CCU Softball Field. The Chanticleers improve to 17-23 overall and 3-3 in the Big South while the Buccaneers fall to 17-27 and 4-5 in the league.

After back-to-back solid pitching performances by freshman Ashley Bagwell, the Chants came out on top of the pitching duel between Bagwell and Charleston Southern's Morgan Dowdy.

Bagwell threw a no hitter through the fifth inning, facing the minimum number of batters. She finished the game allowing one run on three hits while striking out seven to move to 9-10 on the season. Dowdy falls to 7-16 after giving up four runs on five hits and striking out two.

Coastal tallied its first hit of the game in the bottom of the third by junior Chelsea Pineda and Cacia Pierre added another hit on the board in the fourth with a single up the middle. Both innings, the runners were left stranded until the fifth when freshman Jessie Winans hit her third home run of the season to give the Chants a 1-0 advantage.

In the sixth inning, the Bucs registered their first hit of the game with two outs by Megan Lombard after Hayes Holdsworth drew a lead off walk to start the inning. Bagwell got out of the jam as Charleston Southern left both runners stranded.

In the top of the seventh, the Bucs tied the score at 1-all with one out. Jessica Brock led off the inning with a single to center and Lizzy Olmstead came in to pinch run. Olmstead went to second on a groundout and she advanced to third on a single by Stephanie Sbardella. Olmstead came home on a throw down to second to tie the game at 1-1. Charleston Southern continued to put the pressure on Coastal as Holdsworth drew a walk, giving the Buccaneers runners at first and second, but Bagwell was able to get out the jam without allowing any more runs to score.

The Chanticleers kept the game alive as freshman Tamara Hawkins drew a walk with one out and freshman Courtney Howell came in to pinch run. Howell stole second and advanced to third on a groundout. Winans drew a walk, giving Coastal runners at the corners and Pineda cleared the bases with a walk off three-run homer to left center, ending the game.

Coastal will hit the road this weekend as it travels to Radford for a three-game series against the top-ranked Highlanders. The Chanticleers will play a doubleheader on Saturday, April 16 with the first game slated to begin at 2 p.m.