CONWAY - On Friday, The Coastal softball team improved to 7-1 after the first day of the Battle at the Beach with their sixth and seventh consecutive wins in shutout style over the Marshall Thundering Herd and the Presbyterian Blue Hose.

Marshall

CCU picked up the only run of the game in the bottom of the second  as sophomore Stavi Augur and freshman Abbey Montoya singled. Two batters later, senior third baseman Chelsea D'Avilar laid down a one out squeeze bunt to bring in Augur.

That's the only run  that was needed in game one for the Chants as Kaitlin Beasley-Polko added her first shut win of 2019.

The sophomore pitcher hit Briana Daiss to open up the top of the seventh inning and the next Marshall batter, Sierra Huerta singled through the right side, allowing pinch runner Brooke Burns to move over to third as Payton Hanson misplayed the grounder in right field.

With runners on second and third and no outs, Beasley-Polko was able to work her way out the jam as she got Hannah Giammarino to ground out to shortstop Alexis Alvino who was playing in to cut down on the run. Next batter, Blakely Burch poked the ball back at Beasley-Polko and the sophomore fielded it with her glove and shoveled it to catcher Samantha Sack to cut down Burns at the plate for the second out. Beasley-Polko threw an effective errant pitch in the next at-bat as it went to the screen. Huerta tried to tie the game up but was caught stealing when Sack retrieved the ball back to her pitcher to end the game.

The native from Leonardstown, Maryland improved to 3-1 on the season, striking out five. In a stretch from the fourth to the sixth innings, Beasley-Polko retired a game-high eight consecutive batters.
 
Presbyterian

In game two, senior starting pitcher Ashley Guillette needed just one run from the Chanticleer offense to pick up her fourth win of the season.

The Chants came through with four in the game as junior first baseman Kassidy Smith led off the bottom of the first with her second homer of the year.

Freshman Sydney Guess and sophomore Taylor Sweigart got aboard to lead off the bottom of the fourth allowing freshman Abbey Montoya to pick up her first two runs batted in of her career with a single to center field, extending the lead  to 3-0.

Coastal would add another in the fifth, giving Guillette a 4-0 cushion. The senior from Oxford, Connecticut native threw her third complete game of the season on ten strikeouts. The shutout is her 42^nd win of her career and second shutout of the season, dropping her season ERA to 0.28.

CCU will return to the field on Saturday with two games starting at 11:45 a.m. versus the Towson Tigers followed up by Presbyterian at 2 p.m.
 
For complete coverage of CCU softball, follow the Chanticleers on social media at @CoastalSB (twitter), @GoCCUSports (Instagram) and facebook.com/CCUChanticleers (Facebook) or visit the official home of Coastal Carolina Athletics at goccusports.com.