CCU/Appalachian State Program

CONWAY – For the third time in three seasons, the Coastal Carolina Chanticleers softball team will take on the Appalachian State Mountaineers on the last weekend (May 2-4) of the conference season to determine their fate in the Sun Belt tournament.
 
Coastal Carolina
Coastal enters the weekend after dropping three straight to the No. 8 Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns in last weekend's road series in Lafayette.  The Chants dropped to 33-18 overall and 11-13 in the Sun Belt and currently sit in sixth place in the Sun Belt.
 
The Chanticleers were competitive throughout the weekend with chances to pick up wins in games one and three of the series.

CCU had the Cajuns on their heels in the top of the seventh in game one as they had the bases loaded highlighted by singles from sophomores Samantha Sack, Courtney Dean, and freshman Mackenzie Beyer. Louisiana's Summer Ellyson came in relief to retire the final three Chanticleers to earn her team a 5-2 win.
 
On Sunday in the 3-2 loss, the Chanticleers took the lead in the first inning on junior Kassidy Smith's 14th home run of the season. Coastal would add another run in the second and go up 2-0 on a Chelsea D'Avilar's sac bunt. Louisiana would rally in the sixth inning with three runs and go on to win and keep their conference record unblemished.
 
Sophomore Kaitlin Beasley-Polko pitched solid in her two starts against the No. 8 Cajuns as she went the distance twice. In each of her two starts, Beasley-Polko had two streaks of three innings of scoreless softball that helped keep her team in each of the games.
 
Smith is the leader in the Sun Belt with the previously mentioned 14 home runs. Sophomore Courtney Dean has 12 and tied for second.
 
Appalachian State
Appalachian State enters this weekend having lost three straight in Sun Belt play to the UT Arlington Mavericks. The Mountaineers have an overall record of 30-20 and 12-11 in the conference and are in fifth place.
 
The Mountaineers fell in both games of a doubleheader on Saturday by the scores of 5-0 and 7-3.
 
Sydney Holland suffered the loss in game one and dropped to 13-9 on the season after she struck out three and allowed just one earned run.
 
In game two, Kenzie Longanecker pitched for the first time since April 12 and took the loss. The senior went 4.2 innings, allowed four runs, two earned on 13 hits.
 
The Mountaineers would fall to the Mavs in extra innings in Sunday's game three. App would hit five home runs and score seven runs on 10 hits but was outlasted in the ninth-inning with a final score of 9-7.
 
Who Will Get In?
The winner of this weekend's series will earn fifth-place overall in the conference and play the eighth seed in next week's Sun Belt tournament at Texas State. The eighth seed is still up for grabs in the Sun Belt as the bottom four teams in the conference; ULM, South Alabama, Georgia Southern, and Georgia State still have a legitimate claim to a tournament berth.
 
Honoring Our Seniors
Prior to Saturday's season finale, we will honor our four seniors: Alexis Alvino, Chelsea D'Avilar, Natalie David, and Ashley Guillette.
 
History
The Chanticleers hold a 13-5 all-time advantage over the Mountaineers. Last season, Coastal needed to sweep App State for a conference playoff spot but were defeated in the last game. In 2017, the same scenario occurred but CCU was able to sweep and move on into postseason in their first season the Sun Belt Conference.
 
How to Follow
The series will begin on Thursday at 4:00 p.m. ET. and will wrap up on Saturday at 1:00 p.m. ET. Fans can log on goccusports to find live statistics. Game two of the series will begin at 4:00 p.m. ET, and can be viewed on the Chanticleer Sports Network.
 
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.