Cougars battle back to defeat ETSU in eight, 5-4

Sunday, February 17

Gainesville, Fla.

9 a.m.

College of Charleston

East Tennessee State

CofC softball splits home opener with Campbell, 7-12 and 2-0

2/17/2008 5:00:00 AM | Softball

By: CofCSports.com

Gainesville, Fla. -- The College of Charleston softball team defeated East Tennessee State 5-4 after a hard-fought eight innings in its final game of the Cox Communications Classic early Sunday morning.

The Cougars (2-11) went 1-5 on the weekend and will take the week off before hosting the first of three home tournaments Friday, Feb. 22-24. The Lady Buccaneers' record falls to 1-6 on the season.

Freshman Katie Nutaitis put the Cougars on the board in the bottom of the fifth inning. After a Kristie Shifflett double to left centerfield, Nutaitis ripped a homer to the same spot. The right fielder's two-run dinger was the teams first for the season.

With the score at 4-2 in the bottom of the seventh, Shifflett hit a single to centerto bring pitcher Shannon Howard to the plate. Howard hit Charleston's second two-run homer to tie the score, sending the game into extra innings.

In the extra inning a sacrifice bunt by Alex Williams put Alexa Datko on third base. After a Christal Kotchman walk and a single to the shortstop by Tiffany Harmon, the bases were loaded. Freshman Kristi Woodall was hit by a pitch, bringing Datko in for the final run and the end of the game.

Charleston turned in a total of eight hits on 27 at-bats. Howard (2-4) gets credit for the win. The Carmichael, Calif., native face nine batter, striking out three with zero earned runs.

Shifflett went 4-for-4 on the day with two runs scored. Harmon, Howard, Nutaitis and Kotchman each added hits for the Cougars. Howard and Nutaitis both had two RBI on the day.

CofC will face Towson at 4:00 p.m. in its first game of the CofC Cougar Classic Friday, Feb. 22, at Patriots Point Field in Mt. Pleasant, S.C.