College of Charleston
St. John's
Cougars drop 4-1 decision to St. Johns in tournament opener
2/27/2009 5:00:00 AM | Softball
Boxscore - College of Charleston vs. St. Johns
RALEIGH, N.C. - Junior pitcher Terri Mesko (McDonough, Ga.) threw a complete game, striking out eight and junior third baseman Kristie Shifflett (Virginia Beach, Va.) hit her third home run of the season but it was not enough as the College of Charleston (4-10) dropped a 4-1 decision to St. Johns (7-3) Friday morning in the first game of the N.C. State Wolfpack Challenge.
St. Johns got on the board early as the Red Storm put together a pair of hits and took advantage of two errors to score three runs in the first inning. Junior pitcher Terri Mesko (McDonough, Ga.) struck out the side around the three runs and then proceeded to notch three consecutive strikeouts the following inning.
Sophomore pitcher Linzee Sumrall was just as dominant on the other side of the ledger as she recorded strikeouts on five of the first six batters and held Charleston scoreless through three innings. In the top of the fourth inning, the Cougars got on the board when junior third baseman Kristie Shifflett (Virginia Beach, Va.) belted her third home run of the season over the centerfield fence to make it 3-1.
St. Johns would answer back with an insurance run in the bottom of the inning when freshman outfielder Kristi Cady doubled to lead off the inning and then scored on a single by sophomore outfielder Chelsea Durning to make it 4-1. That would be all the Red Storm would need as they closed out the three-run victory three innings later.
Durning led the way for the St. Johns with a 2-for-3, one run, one RBI performance while Dopudja and Cox each added an RBI. Linzee Sumrall earned the victory with a complete game, three-hit, one run effort. She struck out nine batters as she moved to 4-1 on the season.
For Charleston, Kristie Shifflett finished 1-for-3 with her 18th career homerun while senior shortstop Christal Kotchman (Seminole, Fla.) and junior catcher Brittany Small (Chesapeake, Va.) added the other hits for the Cougars. Mesko, went the distance in a losing effort, striking out a season-high eight batters and pulling to within nine strikeouts of the program record of 462.
The Cougars return to action tomorrow evening when they face Buffalo at 5:30 p.m. and St. Johns at 7:30 p.m.
NOTES
Terri Mesko is nine strikeouts away from breaking the career strikeout record for the College of Charleston ... she trails Rachael Stern's mark of 462 for the all-time record (2003-05) and is seven strikeouts away from moving into second place all-time ... Kenzie Kohler is second with 460 career strikeouts.
