BOONE, N.C. - Natalie Orcutt continued her exceptional freshman campaign on Wednesday with three home runs in two games and her first-career four-hit game as Appalachian State University softball took game one against Radford 6-1, but dropped the nightcap by a score of 10-6.
"Today was another great effort by Vanessa (Ciocatto) in the circle and Natalie (Orcutt) did a great job of leading us offensively," said head coach Janice Savage. "In the second game, we lost focus and made too many mistakes, which cost us a ballgame. We will learn from those mistakes, get better tomorrow at practice and take the positives with us into the weekend against Georgia Southern."
The Mountaineers are now 9-30 overall, which includes a 3-3 mark against the Big South Conference this season, while the Highlanders headed down the mountain with a 21-15 record.
As mentioned above, Orcutt is putting forth a historic effort in her first spring on campus. On the day, she went 6-for-7 with four runs scored, one double, three bombs, three RBI, and 16 total bases. Since a 2-of-16 drought in the South Alabama series and the first two games against UT Arlington, the Senoia, Ga., native has gone 9-for-11 (.818) to raise her average to a team-best .383. That mark is good for seventh in the Sun Belt Conference, sixth in program history and second-best in App State history for a freshman.
Wednesday, Orcutt, Cara Parker and Jenny Dodd combined to go 15-of-19 (.789) with seven runs, two doubles, four home runs, eight RBI, and 29 total bases. All three now have batting averages above .300 and if Orcutt and Dodd can finish with averages above .300, it'd be the first time in school history two freshmen have done so in the same season.
Game One: App State 6, Radford 1
The Black and Gold scored one run in the first and five in the six for the day's first contest. In the first, Orcutt hit her first home run of the day, a solo jack to center field. In the sixth, Parker hit a two-run blast and Tiffany Taynor went deep for the first time this season with a three-runner to left.
That was all the run support Vanessa Ciocatto (7-14) needed as she went the distance for the sixth time this season with one earned run given up on five hits. In her last nine appearances, including five starts, the junior hurler has a 2.45 ERA in 34.1 innings pitched with a 3-3 record, and two complete games. During that span, her ERA has come down from 5.58 to 4.63.
Game Two: Radford 10, App State 6
App State scored two runs in the first with an RBI single (Dodd) and an RBI fielder's choice (Taynor) before another run in the second on Orcutt's second four-bagger of the day. At that point, the home team was up 3-1 on its visitors.
However, over the course of the next five innings, Radford would outscore Appalachian State 9-3 to pull out the 10-6 victory on the Apps' home turf. The Mountaineers' didn't turn in the best defensive effort for the second game as they had four errors and six of the Highlanders' 10 runs were unearned.
Annaleise Kennedy (2-10) was saddled with the loss in 5.1 innings pitched with nine runs surrendered, only three of which were earned, on eight hits. In relief, Claire Eosso went two-thirds of an inning and Katherine Johnson made her first appearance in over a month with one inning of work.
Next up, App State travels to Georgia Southern for a twinbill on Saturday (1 p.m.) and game three on Sunday (1 p.m.).
