CHARLESTON, S.C. – Charleston Southern jumped out in front early on its way to a game one victory, earning a split of Saturday's doubleheader with Presbyterian in Big South softball action in front of an overflow crowd at the CSU Softball Complex. The Buccaneers captured that first contest 5-3 before dropping a 5-4 decision to the Blue Hose in the second matchup of the day.
GAME 1 | CHARLESTON SOUTHERN 5, PRESBYTERIAN 3
It was a slow-moving start to the Charleston Southern (15-18, 5-6 Big South) offense, as the hosts managed just one base runner in each of the first-two frames. By the bottom of the third, the bats started to come alive.
Weslin Jones ripped a one-out triple to right field, her team-leading second of the season, to create the spark. Fellow freshman
Gracie Prince followed with an RBI single to the left-center gap before moving to second on a passed ball.
Raleigh Lewis reached on a base on balls and
Lilly Bishop singled but then each runner moved up an additional base as an errant throw allowed an extra 60 feet, and Prince came home to pad the cushion to 2-0. With Lewis now on third and
Taylor Gleason, who entered as a pinch runner for Bishop, also in scoring position,
SeaEnna Satcher singled to right center, plating both runs and growing the lead to 4-0. The offensive attack lifted starter Morgan Hess from the circle for Presbyterian (21-8, 7-4 Big South) with one out remaining in the inning.
Meanwhile, Bucs starter
Blake Holtorf continued her dominance by retiring the next five batters in a row until two outs in the visitor half of the fifth. Layna Johnson singled and then raced all the way home on a Kaitlyn Tucker for the first Blue Hose run. Lath Freeman homered in the ensuing at-bat, closing the gap to 4-3 before Holtorf induced the final out.
Charleston Southern countered in the bottom of the fifth, tacking on an insurance run with two outs. Bishop doubled to left center and then scored when a Satcher single allowed her to come in on the throw, pushing the lead to 5-3. It stayed that way the rest of the way with Holtorf allowing just one base runner in each of the next-two stanzas to earn the complete-game triumph.
Holtorf struck out five and scattered seven hits over her seven innings of work, while the Buccaneers hung just the second loss in 11 decisions of the season on Hess after tagging her for four runs on five hits during her 2.2 innings in the circle.
Prince, Bishop, Satcher and Jones all had multi-hit games with Satcher leading the way with three RBI.
GAME 2 | PRESBYTERIAN 5, CHARLESTON SOUTHERN 4
The Blue Hose flipped the script in the second game of the twinbill, plating three runs in the first inning to take the early advantage. Back-to-back singles to lead off the contest by Johnson and Tucker preceded a walk by Freeman, loading the bases with zero outs off starter
Annah Junge. A Jillian Hewes single brought in the two lead runners and then Freeman expanded the lead to 3-0 on a Hess sacrifice fly, as Junge settled in to retire the last three batters 1-2-3.
Presbyterian (22-8, 8-4 Big South) continued to add to its lead in the top of the fourth with Hess reaching second as the lead-off batter, singling then moving to second on an error in center field. Jaiden Tweed followed suit with a two-run home run to center, making it a 5-0 lead.
The Bucs, however, did not quit despite the deficit. Satcher and
Madison Koger opened the rally with back-to-back doubles, bringing Satcher home for the first CSU run. Gleason then singled to right, moving Koger to third and leaving runners on the corners for Jones, who laid down a perfectly executed bunt to load the bases with only one out.
Prince hit a hard-hit ball passed the second baseman and everyone moved up one additional base on the throw back to the infield, allowing Koger and Gleason to score to bring Charleston Southern (15-19, 5-7 Big South) within 5-3 and chasing starter Jenna Greene from the circle.
Ashley Meckley added a bunt single of her own, loading the bases once again. Bishop then drew a two-out walk off Haley Haselden with Jones trotting home to close the gap to 5-4, but as the batting order restarted in the same inning, no other runs were able to be scored.
Junge did her part by sending the visitors down in order in each of the next-two frames. The Buccaneers had a base runner in each of their next-two turns at-bat but could not bring her home either time, leaving the contest one run shy.
In the circle, Junge tossed the complete game, giving up six hits and striking out five in the loss. Greene was credited with the win, throwing 4.1 innings and surrendering all four runs before giving way to Haselden for the final 2.2 innings and the save.
Six different Bucs – Prince, Meckley, Satcher, Koger, Gleason and Jones all had hits in the matchup.
UP NEXT
Charleston Southern will put a stamp on its seven-game homestand by playing host to a Wednesday non-conference doubleheader with Georgia Southern. Action at the CSU Softball Complex begins at 4 p.m., moved up one hour from the previously announced time.
