College of Charleston
Elon
Mesko?s Gem and Shifflett?s Hitting Lead Cougars to Double Header Sweep over Elon
4/18/2009 11:00:00 PM | Softball
Game 1 Boxscore - Elon vs. College of Charleston
Game 2 Boxscore - Elon vs. College of Charleston
MT. PLEASANT, S.C. - Junior pitcher Terri Mesko (McDonough, Ga.) threw a 10-inning, complete game, one-hit shutout and junior third baseman Kristie Shifflett (Virginia Beach, Va.) belted her ninth homerun of the season as the College of Charleston (16-22, 8-8) took the first two games from Elon (13-23, 4-10) in their Southern Conference series on Saturday, April 18. The Cougars won the first game by a score of 1-0 in 10 innings while claiming the nightcap by a 7-1 margin.
GAME 1
COLLEGE OF CHARLESTON 1, ELON 0 (10)
Junior pitcher Terri Mesko (McDonough, Ga.) threw a 10-inning, complete game, one-hit shutout as the College of Charleston claimed a 1-0 victory in the series opener against the Phoenix.
Sophomore first baseman Katie Nutaitis (Vienna, Va.) notched the first hit of the game in the fourth inning and collected the final hit of the game as she looped a ball over shortstop to short left field for the game winning hit in the bottom of the tenth inning.
In that frame, following the placement of a runner on second base as per the international tiebreaker, the Cougars put runners on first and third when junior third baseman Kristie Shifflett (Virginia Beach, Va.) dropped down a bunt single. After a foul out gave Elon one out, Nutaitis followed through with her game-winning single.
A pitcher's duel from the very beginning, both teams were held hitless into the fourth inning before Nutaitis singled in that inning for CofC's first hit. Sophomore first baseman Ashlee Crewe laced a two-out double to the right centerfield gap in the fifth inning for the only Phoenix hit of the day.
After setting down Elon in order in the eighth and ninth innings, Charleston worked out of a major jam to start the tenth inning. With a runner on second base as a result of the international tiebreaker, the Cougars committed an error on the first play of the inning to put runners on first and third with no outs. Mesko then bore down and got the next two outs on infield pop outs before inducing an inning-ending fly out to left to maintain the tie.
Crewe produced the only hit for Elon, going 1-for-4, while freshman pitcher Erin O'Shea threw 192 pitches and 9.1 innings. She allowed six hits, six walks and struck out five batters to take the loss and fall to 5-7 on the season.
For Charleston, Mesko posted a record-tying performance with 10 shutout innings, 10 strikeouts and only one hit allowed in her eighth win of the season. The 10 innings tied for the fourth most innings pitched, accomplished four times previous, three by Mesko. She was one inning away from tying for her own program record of 11 innings. The 10 strikeouts set her season-high and ranks just outside the top-10 in the Cougars record book for a single game.
At the plate, Nutaitis went 2-for-5 with the lone RBI while senior outfielder Tiffany Harmon (Lynn Haven, Fla.), Kristie Shifflett, freshman outfielder Amanda Lonergan (Pembroke Pines, Fla.) and junior catcher Amanda Maurer (Haubstadt, Ind.) each added a single. Redshirt junior second baseman Amber Shifflett (Virginia Beach, Va.) scored the only run of the game.
GAME 1 NOTES
The 10 innings pitched for CofC tied for the fifth most in program history, trailing a 13-inning performance against Furman on April 23, 2006 and three 11-inning performances.
GAME 2
COLLEGE OF CHARLESTON 7, ELON 1
In the nightcap, Kristie Shifflett went 3-for-4 with three RBI, a double and her ninth home run of the season while her sister Amber Shifflett was 2-for-4 with two RBI, two runs and a stolen base as Charleston claimed a 7-1 victory.
Charleston got on the board first, going up 1-0 in the second inning, and extended that lead to 3-0 in the fifth on Shifflett's blast down the left field line. After allowing a single run in the top of the sixth, the Cougars exploded for four runs in the bottom of the inning to reach the final margin.
Ashlee Crewe went 3-for-3 to lead Elon while sophomore pitcher Pam DelPizzo started and went five innings, allowing eight hits, six runs and five walks, to take the loss and drop to 3-4 on the season. Senior pitcher Melanie Helterbran had the only RBI for the Phoenix as she went 1-for-1 in a pinch hit appearance.
The Shifflett's led the offensive attack for the Cougars while senior pitcher Shannon Howard (Carmichael, Calif.) pitched her third consecutive complete game, scattering seven hits and allowing only one run, to move to 5-10 on the season. Offensively, freshman shortstop Katie Forbes (Odessa, Fla.) added the only other RBI for CofC and senior outfielder Tiffany Harmon (Lynn Haven, Fla.) swiped two bases to move to 11-for-13 on the base paths, tying for the team lead.
The College of Charleston will close out the series tomorrow afternoon with a 1:00 p.m. contest at Patriots Point Stadium.
