NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C. – The Charleston Southern softball team went 1-1 on Friday in the first day of the Blue/Gold Classic at CSU Softball Field. They dropped their first game to St. John's by a 4-2 score while coming away victorious in their second game with a 6-5 win over UMass Lowell.
Game One
It was a scoreless game through the first three innings, until the Red Storm (2-5) came to life on offense with three runs off of starting pitcher,
Annah Junge. The Bucs (3-4) had just one hit entering the bottom of the sixth inning, when
Carsten Sandvig woke up the bats with a solo home run to left field to put Charleston Southern on the board. It was the Sandvig's first collegiate home run as well as the first home run overall for the Bucs in 2024.
The inning continued, as
Gracie Prince doubled down the left field line and scored on a double into right field by
Harper Schoeneweis to make it 3-2. After a
Charlee Yourman single, the Bucs had runners at the corners with two outs but were unable to score the tying run.
Junge took the loss to fall to 1-3 on the season. She lasted 3.2 innings, allowing three runs on seven hits and struck out four batters.
Nealy Lamb relieved her and threw the final 3.1 innings allowing one run, one hit, two walks and two strikeouts.
Game Two
The Bucs drew first blood against UMass Lowell (1-5), scoring one in the second inning on a fielder's choice.
Blake Holtorf was cruising through the first three innings, but after loading the bases in the fourth inning, an error at second base allowed for the Riverhawks to take a 3-1 lead. Every run was unearned in the inning.
Charleston Southern answered in the bottom half of the inning, scoring five runs on three errors by the UMass Lowell defense.
Emma Villaescusa reached on an error by the shortstop, and Yourman brought her in, as the Riverhawks made two errors in the same play that allowed her to go to third base.
The Bucs took the lead a few batters later. After a double by
Madelyne Lee,
BriAnna Brooks brought her in with an RBI single. Later in the inning, Schoeneweis did it again with her bat, lining her second RBI double of the day into right field to give the Bucs a 6-3 lead.
The Riverhawks tried to rally, scoring two runs off of Holtorf and
Riley Lauffer in the second inning, but Lamb came in during the top of the seventh inning and earned her second save of the season. Holtorf picked up the win to improve to 2-0 on the year. She allowed four runs (one earned) on six hits and struck out three batters in 5.0+ innings of work. Lauffer and Lamb both threw an inning each.
On Deck
The Bucs will play in their final two games of the tournament tomorrow, as they host UMass Lowell at 3 PM and St. John's at 5:30 PM. Both games will be streamed on ESPN+.
