Harrisonburg, Va. – Sydney Shipley scattered seven hits and tossed her third shutout of the season in a 5-0 win over Delaware to keep the College of Charleston alive in the Colonial Athletic Association softball tournament.
Earlier in the day, the Cougars (33-22) fell victim to a three-run Hofstra rally in the seventh that tied the game en route to a 5-4 loss in 10 innings. CofC will face UNC Wilmington in an elimination game tomorrow at 2:30 and will play again at 5:00 with a win over the Seahawks.
Shipley found herself in trouble several times but came up with the big pitch on each occasion to strand a total of 11 Blue Hens. She finished the game in style with a strikeout of Alyshia Dellatore with two on to preserve the shutout.
Taylor DuPree and Kelly Sinclair both had three hits to spearhead the Cougar offense. The duo singled to lead off the game and both scored, including one on an RBI sacrifice bunt by Jordin Jones, to stake CofC to a quick lead.
Dana Horgan doubled with one out in the second, moved to third on a hit by DuPree and scored on an error on the same play. It stayed a 3-0 contest until the fifth when two walks and DuPree's third hit of the game loaded the bases, and Sinclair followed with a two-run single to break the game open.
DuPree had a total of four hits in the two games to increase her CAA-leading total to 74.
In the loss to Hofstra, Kaitlyne Musa led off the bottom of the 10th with a fly ball to deep center that Yari Felix was unable to come up with, and one out later Kristin Hallam grounded a single up the middle to score pinch runner Alexis Goeke to hand the Cougars the heartbreaking defeat.
CofC starter Sam Martin held the Pride to only one run through six inning but left after a hit by pitch to lead off the bottom of the seventh. Two singles and a walk off Izzy Berouty produced one run, but Sara Garcia threw out a second runner at the plate to keep it 4-2.
With the Cougars two outs from victory, Nikki Michalowski lined out to third, but the throw to second for a potential game-ending double play was not handled and a run scored to make it 4-3, leading to a double by Megan Patierno that capped the rally.
The Cougars took a 3-0 lead in the first on an RBI double by Taylor Belfiore and a two-run double by Garcia, her team-leading 13th of the season. CofC added to its lead on singles by Felix and Sinclair and a throwing error, but Hofstra answered on a sacrifice fly by Sam Tomasetti that left the Cougars ahead 4-1 after two.
Martin was able to strand eight runners over the first six innings to help CofC maintain its lead. The Cougars also had their scoring opportunities, putting two on in the third and fifth and stranding a runner at second in the sixth following a leadoff double by Kashmir Huckaby.
Shipley entered in the eighth and got two outs in each of the next two innings with the winning run in scoring position. The Cougars had runners at second at third with one out in the top of the 10th but could not break through.
