Harrisonburg, Va. – Sara Garcia and Kashmir Huckaby homered and combined for five RBI to back an outstanding performance in the circle by Sydney Shipley in a 6-1 win over James Madison and a split of Saturday's Colonial Athletic Association doubleheader.
The 11th-ranked Dukes pounded five home runs in a 16-6, five-inning win in the opener. Both teams are 3-2 in the CAA, with the Cougars standing at 20-13 overall and JMU at 29-5. The teams wrap up the series with a single game at 1:00 tomorrow.
With its win in the nightcap, CofC snapped a seven-game losing streak to the Dukes and won for the first time in five tries in Harrisonburg. The Cougars also earned their first win over a nationally-ranked team since a 2-1 victory over No. 10 Georgia on March 11, 2016 at Patriots Point.
Garcia enjoyed a red-hot day at the plate, homering twice among her four hits and driving in six runs after the junior right fielder entered the day without a round tripper and 10 RBI through her first 18 games. Huckaby hit her first homer of the season in the second game, and Jordin Jones added her fifth in the opener to tie Taylor Belfiore for the team lead with five.
Huckaby's third career home run gave CofC a 1-0 lead in the second inning, and she capped a three-run third with an RBI single to put the Cougars in front by four. Kelly Sinclair doubled in a run, and Garcia added a run-scoring base hit as part of the big inning.
The Dukes scored a run in the fourth, but Garcia answered with her second homer of the day, a two-run shot in the fifth. JMU threatened in the seventh, putting runners at second and third with nobody out, but Shipley slammed the door shut, taking care of the final out herself on a grounder to the circle by Megan Good.
Shipley (7-3) won her third straight start, allowing four hits in the complete game victory. The senior has given up only 15 hits and two earned runs in her last 28 innings, earning three wins and lowering her ERA from 4.63 to 3.05 over that span.
Garcia had her first home run of the day in the second inning of the opening game, a three-run shot that offset three runs by JMU in the bottom of the first. It came off Good, JMU's All-America pitcher who had allowed only four earned runs in 124 innings all season before Garcia took her deep.
The game didn't stay tied for long as the Dukes exploded for eight runs in their half of the second, including a three-run homer by Good, who had two in the game and drove in five runs. She settled down after the Garcia homer, retiring the Cougars in order in the third and fourth before Jones hit a three-run homer off reliever Jessica McCabe in the fifth.
Softball Alumni Weekend Scheduled for April 7-9
The College of Charleston softball team will celebrate Alumni Weekend next Saturday and Sunday when the Cougars host UNCW in a CAA series at Patriots Point. All softball alumni are invited to join in the celebration of the program's 25th anniversary. Those planning on attending must RSVP in advance. For more information or to RSVP, write to schumanta@cofc.edu or call 843-953-2632.
