Cougars Blank DePaul in Home Opener

Thursday, February 15

Patriots Point

4:00 PM

College of Charleston

4-1

DePaul

5-1

DePaul

Col. of Charleston

2/15/2018 7:03:00 PM | Softball

Box Score

Mt. Pleasant, S.C. – Izzy Berouty scattered eight hits in her second career shutout, and Sara Garcia and Kelly Sinclair came up with clutch two-run extra base hits to lift the College of Charleston to a 4-0 win over DePaul in the opening game of the Cougar Classic at Patriots Point.

The Cougars (4-1) continue tournament play Friday with games against Northern Illinois at 4:45 and Iona at 7. DePaul suffered its first loss after opening its season with five wins last weekend.

Berouty worked around several jams, stranding a total of eight runners including two each in the second, third and fifth innings. The sophomore right-hander has allowed only one earned run in her last 18 innings, including a 10-inning victory over Akron last Sunday, to lower her ERA to 1.22 on the season.

The game was scoreless heading into the bottom of the third when a single by Taylor DuPree and two-out walk to Taylor Belfiore set the stage for Garcia's double to center that plated both runs. Two innings later, Belfiore and Garcia drew walks and Sinclair lined a triple to the fence in right center to boost the margin to four runs.

That proved more than enough for Berouty, thanks in large part to the arm of Garcia in right field. She gunned down Angela Scalzitti trying to score from second on a single by Kate Polucha in the fifth, and nailed Alysia Rodriguez going from first to third on a base hit by Maranda Gutierrez in the sixth.

The Cougars also turned a 6-4-3 double play after a one-out single in the first, and Berouty threw out a runner at third on a grounder back to the circle to quell a Blue Demon threat following a leadoff double in the fourth.