Saturday, May 07, 2005

Mt Pleasant, S.C. (May 7, 2005) - The ETSU softball squad traveled to face College of Charleston this afternoon in Southern Conference doubleheader action.  ETSU captured the nine-inning game one victory 1-0, while the Cougars stole the 7-4 win in game two of the afternoon.  With the win, CofC improves to 46-16 overall and 16-4 in SoCon play while ETSU drops to 25-30 overall and 10-8 in conference.

The Cougars' Rachael Stern and the Bucs' Courtney Jenkins (Knoxville, Tenn.) battled through eight scoreless frames.  In the top of the ninth, Jessica Lonsinger (Dale City, Va.) reached on a walk and was pinch ran for by Brittany Richardson (Knoxville, Tenn.). Melissa McCall (Kingsport, Tenn.) then reached on an error and Richardson scored to put the Bucs up 1-0 and give them the victory.

Jenkins (14-14) picked up the win for ETSU, pitching the shutout and giving up just five hits.  Rachael Stern (26-9) was the losing pitcher for the Cougars despite a strong outing. Stern gave up just one run on six hits while striking out six.  The Bucs were led by Lindsay Lane (Erwin, Tenn.), who went 3-for-4 in the game.

Game two saw ETSU jump on the Cougars early for a 3-0 lead after two innings. In the second, the Bucs took advantage of three Cougar errors and Janine Sprague (Hillsborough, N.C.) hit a key sacrifice fly to give them the 3-0 advantage.

The Bucs added another run in the third as Lane stole home despite a failed squeeze attempt, putting ETSU on top 4-0.  The Cougars scored two runs in their half of the fourth on a Jessica Lyness' single that drove home Leshe Russell and Bridget Loudermilk, who had reached on back-to-back singles to open the inning.  Trailing 4-2 and going into the bottom of the fifth, CofC took the lead for good with a four run inning.

Jayme Durand singled to lead off the inning and advanced to second on a fielding error. After a Shondra Schlichenmayer walk, Lyness roped a double to left center to score Durand and make it 4-3. Darcy Johnson reached on a Bucs error that allowed Schlichenmayer to score and Lyness to advance to third. Carly Petracco walked to load the bases and Renee Francis hit into a fielder's choice to score Lyness and give the Cougars their first lead of the game at 5-4.

CofC added one more in the fifth and another in the sixth as Johnson singled to plate Lyness.

Natalie Smith (20-7) picked up the win, throwing a complete game and giving up just one earned run and striking out three.  Belinda Barrera (Fayetteville, N.C.) (9-11) was the losing pitcher, going five innings and giving up seven hits and six runs, while Sprague was 3-for-3 with an RBI to lead the Bucs during the second set of the afternoon. 

The Cougars and Bucs will face close out the regular season on Sunday afternoon. First pitch is slated for 1:00pm.