College of Charleston
South Carolina State
CofC Softball Sweeps South Carolina State
4/17/2013 12:09:00 AM | Softball
ORANGEBURG, S.C. – The College of Charleston softball team swept its Tuesday afternoon doubleheader at South Carolina State to extend their win streak to seven games. The Cougars outhit the Bulldogs by a 13-3 margin en route to 8-0 and 2-0 victories.
CofC's pitchers were dominant in the twinbill as Stephanie Saylors (Easley, S.C.), Jen Rosene (Charlotte, N.C.) and Valerie Cassell (Edison, N.J.) combined to be virtually unhittable.
Saylors pitched the first three innings of game two and allowed just one hit while striking out three, before giving way to Rosene who didn't allow a single base runner and struck out three of the six hitters she faced.
Cassell pitched the entirety of game two and struck out a career high seven hitters while allowing just two hitters to reach base. After a pair of groundball singles in the second, Cassell wouldn't allow a single hitter to reach base for the rest of the contest.
Offensively the Cougars were paced by Lizzy Vaughn (Placerville, Calif.) who went 4-for-5 on the day with a double and an RBI.
Kelsey Hodgson (Woodstock, Ga.) belted her 11th homer of the season to secure CofC's lead in the first game.
After enforcing the run rule in the first game, the scoring became tougher in game two but Chandler Frisbie (Woodstock, Ga.) drove in two runs which was enough for the 2-0 victory.
CofC (26-16) has now won 11 of their last 12 and will look to roll over the success to Thursday afternoon when they host Savannah State in a doubleheader. First pitch at Patriots Point is scheduled for 4 p.m.
COLLEGE OF CHARLESTON: 8, SC STATE: 0 (5 INN.)
The Cougars were kept off the bases for the first two innings, but erupted for eight runs in the third and fourth innings to bring on the eight-run rule. The Cougars proved to be creative on the base paths and extremely efficient with their at bats by only stranding one runner in the contest.
Kristy Giragosian (Charlotte, N.J.) led off the third inning with a leftfield single which made her the first base runner of the game for either side. The Cougars followed with four consecutive successful sacrifice bunts, two of which being back-to-back squeeze plays which resulted in three runs.
Carly Corthell (Reno, Nev.) laid down a perfect sacrifice bunt and reached safely when the throw to first pulled the first baseman off the bag. Then, with runners on first and second, Courtney Clark (Tampa, Fla.) did her role with the sacrifice bunt to move both runners up a base. Ashton Jarrett (Hanahan, S.C.) then dropped down the squeeze bunt, and she moved up to second as the Bulldogs tried unsuccessfully to get Giragosian at the plate. Next Vaughn dropped the squeeze bunt and the Bulldogs again went to the plate for the play and Corthell slid around the tag to score safely. Like Jarrett, Vaughn went for second base as the throw went to the plate, but strategically went into a rundown which allowed Jarrett to sneak across the plate.
The next batter would be Hodgson and the junior slugger hammered one out to right center to culminate the five-run CofC third.
The Cougars continued the onslaught in the fourth when Rebecca Mueller (Fair Oaks, Calif.) led off with a double down the rightfield line and Giragosian walked to put two on with no outs. Corthell then doubled into the gap in left center to score Mueller and move Giragosian to third. The two base runners would score on back-to-back sacrifice flies by Clark and Lexi Murdock (Clifton, Va.) to put CofC up 8-0.
COLLEGE OF CHARLESTON: 2, SC STATE: 0
The scoring didn't come as easy in game two as the Cougars stranded nine runners, but they collected the two runs they needed and that was enough for Cassell to earn the win.
The first run came in the third inning when Vaughn legged out a one-out infield single. The junior opportunistically tagged up to take second base on a fly ball to left, and that would prove vital as she scored from there on a two-out RBI single by Frisbie.
The Cougars added the insurance run in the seventh when Mackenzie Maples (Corona, Calif.) singled into left center to initiate another rally. Jarrett re-entered the game to run for Maples and immediately stole second base and scored when the Bulldogs committed a fielding error later in the inning.
The insurance would prove to be unnecessary as Cassell continued to mow hitters down and usher the Cougars to victory.
