BOONE, N.C. - Sophomore pitcher Alexa Datko (San Diego, Calif.) earned her second win of the weekend and junior third baseman Kristie Shifflett (Virginia Beach, Va.) hit her eighth home run of the season as the College of Charleston (13-19, 6-6) defeated Appalachian State (17-20, 9-6) 6-5 in the finale game of a Southern Conference series on Sunday, April 5.

As they have all weekend, the Cougars got on the board early as junior third baseman Kristie Shifflett (Virginia Beach, Va.) belted her second home run of the weekend and eighth of the season with a two-run shot to left center. The defense took over in the home half of the inning following a lead off single and steal that put a runner on second base with no outs.

At that point, a come backer to the pitcher advanced the runner to third and recorded the first out of the inning. On the third pitch of an intentional walk to the Southern Conference leader in home runs, sophomore third baseman Katie Boyd, CofC eliminated the runner on third when she tried to score on a ball off of the catcher's glove. They then got out of the jam with a routine fly to center to end the inning.

In a similar situation the following inning, junior pitcher Terri Mesko (McDonough, Ga.) set down three in a row, the final two by strikeout, following a lead off double. The pair of strikeouts came with the runner on third. The Mountaineers pulled off their own Houdini act in the top of the third as Charleston loaded the bases on a pair of singles and an error before a line drive double play to first base got them out of the inning without a run scoring.

The Cougars continued to live dangerously, allowing another runner on third base with one out and an intentional walk to Boyd before once again escaping the threat, this time with a force out at second base. On that play, senior shortstop Christal Kotchman (Seminole, Fla.) ranged to her right and made a strong throw on a close play to save a run and end the inning.

ASU finally broke through in the fourth as they led off the inning with back-to-back singles. That forced a pitching change as sophomore pitcher Alexa Datko (San Diego, Calif.) entered for the third straight game. She promptly got a foul pop out to the catcher before allowing a pinch-hit single to the right centerfield gap that scored the Mountaineers only run of the inning.  A strikeout and weak ground ball to first then kept the game at 2-1.

The Cougars took advantage in the fifth inning with a bases loaded sacrifice fly by freshman shortstop Katie Forbes (Odessa, Fla.) to stretch the lead to 3-1. A line drive single down the right field line by junior catcher Amanda Maurer (Haubstadt, Ind.) then drove in three runs, with the third scoring on a throwing error, to extend the lead to 6-1.

Appalachian State battled back with three runs in the bottom of the inning with a bases loaded walk and a two-run double by freshman pitcher Ashley Stubbs, narrowing the gap to 6-4. Senior pitcher Shannon Howard (Carmichael, Calif.) entered in that inning, allowing only one of the three runs and then maintained CofC's two-run lead.

ASU would creep closer in the sixth inning as a pair of walks, a wild pitch and a passed ball led to a fifth run to make it 6-5. That would be as close they would get as Howard struck out the first two batters in the seventh and got a force out to end the game with the tying run on second base.

Senior utility Brittany Gaston went 3-for-4 with two runs to lead the Mountaineers while Ashley Stubbs finished with a pair of RBIs. Sophomore first baseman Morgan Price and junior catcher Meagan Squartino each added RBIs for ASU. In the circle, senior pitcher Kayla Richardson started and went four innings, giving up five hits and runs, to take the loss and drop to 9-11.

For Charleston, Kristie Shifflett led the offensive attack with her eighth home run of the year in a 2-for-3, two RBI day. Her sister Amber Shifflett was 2-for-4 with a run on the day while Amanda Maurer added a two-run single.

Alexa Datko pitched 1.1 innings in relief of Terri Mesko and earned the victory, her second on the weekend and third decision in the three games, while Howard earned her first save of the season with 2.2 innings of one run, one-hit relief. It is the fourth save of her career, tying her with teammate Terri Mesko for second all-time in the CofC record books.

The College of Charleston will next be in action when they travel to Furman for a Friday-Saturday Southern Conference series on April 10-11. The teams will begin their series a day earlier than usual due to the Easter holiday on Sunday, April 11.