Arlington, Texas – The Coastal Carolina Chanticleers (32-14, 11-9 Sun Belt) dropped their second consecutive game to the UT Arlington Mavericks (23-23, 11-9 Sun Belt) by the score of 12-7 at Allan Saxe Field on Friday afternoon.
The Mavericks picked up three runs in the bottom of the first off Chanticleer starter
Ashley Guillette. Guillette hit lead-off hitter Whitney Walton and then allowed Aileen Garcia to put UTA's first run on the scoreboard with an RBI single that scored Walton from second base. Next batter, Reagan Wright moved Garcia over to third with a double before KJ Murphy added her third double of the season that brought in the aforementioned Wright and Garcia to give UTA a 3-0 lead.
The Chanticleers scored two runs off Maverick starter Jo Jo Valencia in the top of the fourth as junior
Kassidy Smith reached base on a hit-by-pitch, her 17th of the year. Smith would come around to score two batters later when senior
Natalie David hit her first home run of the season.
The Chants took a 7-3 lead in the top of the fifth as
Stavi Augur,
Courtney Dean, and Smith all reached base to load the bases. After Mavs reliever Laura Henriksen recorded the first out,
Alexis Alvino came through with an infield single to tie the score at three runs apiece. David capped off the top of the fifth with her second home run of the day with a grand slam to give the Chants their first lead of the game.
In the home half of the fifth, back-to-back walks from Guillette to Lauren Curry and Garcia led Coastal Head Coach
Kelley Green to go to sophomore
Kaitlin Beasley-Polko in relief. The sophomore allowed UTA to retake the lead 8-7 as she came in and could not record an out. The Leonardtown, Md., native gave up two consecutive hits, allowed a walk and hit a batter while being charged with three runs in the inning and put the home team up 8-7.
The Mavericks picked up a four more runs to extend the lead to 12-7 in the bottom of the sixth inning from home runs by Regan Wright and KJ Murphy.
Arlington was able to hold on for the win as Allie Gardiner worked the final 2.2 innings of scoreless relief for her fourth win of the season.
David's six runs batted is tied for the second most in a game with six others including teammates Smith and senior
Chelsea D'Avilar in CCU history.
Beasley-Polko took the loss and dropped to 21-9 on the season. The Chant righty did not record an out and allowed three runs on two hits.
With the loss, the Chanticleers fall back to fifth-place in the Sun Belt because of the UTA series win.
The Chanticleers and Mavs will play the finale on Saturday at 1:00 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.
