Arlington, Texas - Coastal Carolina softball fell to 11-8 in the Sun Belt Conference and 32-13 overall as they lost 8-6 to the UT Arlington Mavericks (22-23, 10-9 Sun Belt) on Thursday evening at Allan Saxe Field.
The Chanticleers struck first in the top of the first with one out as sophomore
Courtney Dean doubled into left field and then came around to score on junior
Kassidy Smith's RBI single.
The Mavericks answered with five runs off Chanticleer starter
Kaitlin Beasley-Polko in the bottom of the first with the help of two two-run doubles from Aileen Garcia and Bri Burchianti.
In the top of the second, a pair of CCU seniors helped cut into the 5-1 Arlington lead. Senior
Alexis Alvino was hit by a pitch by starter Randi Phillips, and then next batter
Chelsea D'Avilar connected with her fourth home run of the season to make it 5-3.
After loading the bases in the bottom of the second, the Mavericks scored three runs that included the 29th and 30th RBI from an Aileen Garcia single into centerfield.
Smith led off with a walk in the top of the fifth for the Chanticleers and with two outs, Alvino added her 17th RBI of the year with a single to bring around Smith from second base to make it 8-4 Mavericks.
In the top of the seventh, with CCU down by two runs, the Collinsville, Ill., native Smith led off with her Sun Belt leading 13th home run, and freshman
Abbey Montoya made it back-to-back long balls for Coastal with her seventh home run of the year off Phillips. UTA Head Coach Peejay Brun elected to bring in reliever Allie Gardiner. Gardiner was greeted with senior
Natalie David's first double of the season, but Gardiner was able to retire the final three outs of the inning for her third save of the year.
Senior
Ashley Guillette was brilliant in relief as she pitched the final 4.2 innings of scoreless softball.
Beasley-Polko dropped to 21-8 as she took the loss for Coastal Carolina. The Leonardtown, Md., native went 1.1 innings and allowed eight runs on eight hits.
Phillips improved to 12-12 on the year for UT-Arlington as she went six innings, allowed six runs on nine hits.
The two squads will face-off in game two on Friday afternoon at 6 p.m. ET.
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.
