LYNCHBURG, Va. – Charleston Southern puts its bats to use in the late innings and used a strong relief appearance in the circle by Annah Junge to flip the script and rally for an 8-5 triumph over Maine in both teams' first game of the Liberty Softball Classic Friday afternoon in Lynchburg, Virginia.

BATS COME ALIVE
The Black Bears jumped out to a 5-0 lead with all of their runs coming in the third inning, all but one charged to starter Blake Holtorf though she was relieved by Junge after the first three came across with zero outs. Maine (1-6) used a pair of doubles to bring home runners, chasing Holtorf before adding a third in the inning to drive in the final run.

Despite the slow offensive start, the Bucs never wavered and kept the faith. Their bats began to warm up in the fourth when three-straight hits, a single by Lilly Bishop, a double by Raleigh Lewis and a single by SeaEnna Satcher loaded the bases with zero outs but CSU was unable to plate any of the base runners.

The Charleston Southern (4-6) offense continued to put the bat on the ball during its next trip to bat, starting with a leadoff single by Ashley Meckley. Weslin Jones reached on an error and the Buccaneers soon had runners on first and second. Meckley moved to third on a fly-out to right field before Lewis brought her home with a single to right and putting herself in Jones in scoring position as they advanced on the throw. Satcher followed with a single, driving in Jones and Lewis, to cap the inning's scoring and bringing CSU within 5-3 heading to bottom half of the fifth.

With Junge dealing and getting three quick outs on just 10 pitches, the Bucs bats went back to work in the sixth. Junge led off the inning by reaching on a shortstop throwing error. Two strikeouts followed by with two outs, Charleston Southern seemed to find its rhythm against the Black Bears pitching. Jones singled to short and Junge advanced to third on another throwing error by the shortstop. Gracie Prince followed with a walk, loading the bases for Bishop. She singled down the line to left, bringing home Junge and Jones, to pull the Bucs even at 5-5.

With still two outs, Lewis was hit by a pitch, again putting CSU runners on every base. Satcher singled up the middle, and Prince and Bishop both scored on the Buccaneers' third hit of the inning. Taylor Gleason came on as a pitch runner on second for Lewis and she would eventually score the final run on a Madison Koger double to right center and completing one full time through the lineup for the Bucs, as they built the 8-5 advantage that would hold up the rest of the way.

SHUT DOWN WITH THE ARM
Junge settled in following her taking over for Holtorf in the circle and finished with the win, tossing 5.0 innings and surrendering only one hit and one run (earned). She struck out five Maine batters among the 18 she faced, just three over the minimum.

SATCHER STARS
Leading the way at the plate was Satcher with a 3-of-4 outing and four RBI. Lewis was 2-of-2, including a double, while scoring a run and driving in another. Jones and Bishop each recorded two hits among their four at-bats with Bishop credited with two runs batted in. As a team, Charleston Southern hit for a collective .353 batting average.

UP NEXT
The Bucs will continue play at the tournament by facing the host Liberty Flames in the night cap of Friday's action. First pitch time will be determined based upon the completion of the game prior to it.