Cougars lose early lead, fall to Syracuse, 12-4 in six

Friday, March 14

Patriots Point

6:30 p.m.

College of Charleston

Syracuse

Cougars lose early lead, fall to Syracuse, 12-4 in six

3/14/2008 4:00:00 AM | Softball

By: CofCSports.com

Mt. Pleasant, S.C. -- Linzi Bereitschaft's three-run homer was not enough as the College of Charleston fell to Syracuse, 12-4 in six innings, in game four of the CofC softball Classic at Patriots Point.

The Cougars fall to 9-21 on the season. The Orange improves to 5-15 and return to the Classic Saturday at 11 a.m. to face Big East foe St. John's.

“It was a very tough afternoon,” said CofC Head Coach Shelly Hoerner. “We didn't bring our ?A' game today. Hopefully we'll come out tomorrow with a different attitude.”

Junior Tiffany Harmon slapped a single to left to start off the game. The Lynn Haven, Fla., native put the Cougars on the board in the first inning off a double to left-centerfield by Katie Nutaitis.

Charleston seemed to gain some insurance in the third inning when Bereitschaft, hit a three-run bomb to left-center, the first of her collegiate career. The first baseman from Fenton, Mo., brought in Shannon Howard and Nutaitis to put the Cougars up 4-0.

The Orange quickly ate away at the Charleston lead when they scored four runs in the bottom of the third. They took advantage of Cougar errors in the fifth and sixth innings and added eight more runs to their total.

Offensively, Howard went 3-for-3 and scored one run. Harmon, Kristi Woodall, Nutaitis, Bereitschaft and Brittany Small each added runs to the Cougar total of nine.

Howard (5-9) pitched through five innings with five strikeouts and five earned runs on 14 hits. Chanel Roehner (3-5) pitched a complete game, striking out three Cougar batters and allowing nine hits.

Charleston returns to action Saturday, March 15, at 1:30 p.m. when they take on the Orange for a second time.