STATESBORO, GA. – The Coastal Carolina softball team dropped the rubber match of their three game series to the Georgia Southern Eagles by the score of 3-0. CCU now falls 22-6 overall and 4-2 in the Sun Belt Conference
The Eagles Mekhia Freeman led off the bottom of the first with an infield single to third base and then three batters later, third baseman Hannah Farrell took Chant starter
Kaitlin Beasley-Polko's 3-2 pitch over the left field fence for the 2-0 lead.
In the bottom of the third, the top of Georgia Southern's line-up started a rally to bring in their third run of the game as Freeman singled to right and then a walk to Shelby Wilson set up a Hannah Farrell fielder's choice to shortstop
Alexis Alvino. The Chant infielder tagged second base and sent an errant ball over first baseman
Kassidy Smith head that allowed Freeman to score all the way from second base.
The Chanticleers left seven base runners on day and stranded four in the final two innings.
In the first, leadoff hitter
Taylor Sweigart and second batter,
Courtney Dean both walked but Eagle starter Shelby Barfield retired the next three batters to end the threat.
Dean led off the sixth inning with a double off the fence, just short from adding the first Chant run of the game but again Barfield was able to get herself out of the trouble by getting CCU's three, four, and five hitters.
Barfield went the distance as she thwarted off another Coastal rally in the seventh. The right-hander allowed a single to leadoff hitter
Abbey Montoya and then pinch hitter
Natalie David reached on an error by third baseman Hannah Farrell. CCU went to their bench for a spark with
Adrienne Visintine but the freshman popped up for the first out. Senior
Alexis Alvino popped up on the first pitch and then Barfield got the first-place hitter in the Chant lineup, Sweigart to hit a grounder back to herself to end the game.
The Georgia Southern starter Barfield pitched all seven on career-high 106 pitches for her first win of the season.
Beasley-Polko dropped to 13-4 as she pitched a third consecutive day. The sophomore went the distance and allowed four hits on three runs, two earned.
Kassidy Smith's 24 game on-base streak stopped in the loss as the junior went 0-for-3 on the day.
The Chanticleers return to action on Tuesday as they travel to Durham, N.C. to play Duke at 3 p.m. Last season, the two teams met in Conway for the first meeting between the two school as Coastal Carolina took the game, 3-1.
To follow along in the series for live stats and live video, click on the links below or 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
