CONWAY, S.C. – Courtesy of a
Riley Zana grand slam, the Coastal Carolina softball team picked up its first Sun Belt Conference series sweep of the season as the Chants defeated Georgia State 8-2 on Sunday afternoon at St. John Stadium.
With the sweep, CCU improved to 18-23 overall and 4-14 in Sun Belt Conference play, while GSU dropped to 16-26 overall and 6-12 in conference play with the loss.
CCU struck first in the bottom of the third, as
Makiya Thomas singled to center field before advancing to second on a wild pitch.
Abbey Montoya reached base on a bunt, which advanced Thomas to third, before
Iyanla De Jesus singled to center field which advanced Montoya to second and sent Thomas home to put the Chants up 1-0.
Georgia State answered in the top of the fourth, as Skylar Chavez drew a walk before Bailee Richardson doubled to left-center field to send Chavez home and tie the contest at 1-1.
The Chanticleers used a six-run bottom of the fourth inning to push past the Panthers as
Shae Schreckengost sent her first home run as a Chant over the center field fence to put CCU up 2-1. Back-to-back-to-back singles from
Payton Ebersole, Thomas
, and Montoya loaded the bases before Zana brought them all home with a grand slam and her eighth home run of the season to put the Chants on top at 6-1.
Keirstin Roose doubled down the left-field line before stealing second and scoring on a GSU error to make the score 7-1.
In the bottom of the fifth, Schreckengost reached base again, this time on a Panther fielding error, before Thomas doubled to right-center field and drove home pinch-runner
Da'Vidria Robinson to make the score 8-1 in favor of the host.
Back-to-back singles for the Panthers in the top of the seventh put runners on first and second before an Abby Brown single to left field scored Sophie Mooney for Georgia State's final run of the day to make the score 8-2.
Notably, with Schreckengost's lead-off home run every Chant in today's starting lineup has hit at least one home run so far this season.
In the circle,
Kaitlin Beasley-Polko (10-7) recorded her 10th victory of the season seeing 5.0 innings of work and allowed just one run off two hits, and one walk while striking out five.
Maddie Redman also saw 2.0 innings in the circle, as the Lake Winnebago, Missouri native allowed one run on five hits.
Seven different Chanticleers contributed to the team's 11 hits, as Thomas led the offensive efforts at the plate going 3-for-4 with two runs and one RBI.
De Jesus went 2-for-4 with one RBI, while Zana was 1-for-3 with four RBIs against the Panthers.
Coastal Carolina will return to the road for the final two times this season, as the Chants have a midweek matchup at Charlotte on April 27 before returning to conference play on April 29-30 at (RV) Louisiana.
For complete coverage of CCU softball, follow the Chanticleers on social media at @CoastalSoftball (Twitter), @GoCCUSports (Instagram), and facebook.com/CCUChanticleers(Facebook), or visit the official home of Coastal Carolina at www.GoCCUsports.com.
