DECATUR, GA.  – Appalachian State University softball dropped two to Georgia State on Saturday at the Robert E. Heck Softball Stadium in Decatur, Ga. The Mountaineers fell to the Panthers 12-2 in five innings and slipped to the Sun Belt Conference foe 5-3 in game two.

Appalachian State (12-15, 0-5 SBC) banged out ten hits on Saturday and four Mountaineers knocked in RBI including Natalie Orcutt, who went 3-for-5 at the plate and registered her third home run of the season, the ninth of her career.

Three ladies saw action at the mound for the conference doubleheader and Kenzie Longanecker pitched her third complete game of the season.

Game One: GSU 12, App State,2 (5 innings)

Two five-run outings doomed the Mountaineers as Georgia State (20-11 6-2 SBC) downed Appalachian 12-2 in five innings.

In the first, Georgia State loaded the bases to put the Mountaineers on their toes and came out of the inning with one run, but the Apps countered the Panthers' attack putting up a pair thanks to a two-run jack by Orcutt who brought along Katie Mathewson who reached on a walk.

At the bottom of the second, the Panthers snatched their lead back tacking on five runs from a two-run RBI single, a sac. fly and a two-run homer to end the inning up by four.

After scoring a single run in the third, GSU neutralized App's offense and went on a scoring frenzy at the bottom of the fourth adding on five more runs. The Black and Gold never recovered from the ten-run deficit and the Panthers routed the Mountaineers 12-2 in five innings.

Mathewson turning in a perfect performance at the plate going 1-for-1.

Game Two: GSU 5, App State 3

Despite a fifth inning rally that put the Mountaineers within two runs, GSU outlasted Appalachian 5-3 to take the doubleheader sweep.

The Panthers hopped onto the scoreboard first seizing a one-run lead, but Cara Parker answered back at the top of the second with a RBI single to even up the score at one apiece.

The tie did not last long as the Panthers regained their lead tacking on three off a RBI double at the bottom of the second and scored their fifth run of the game off a single at the bottom of the third.

At the top of the fifth, Appalachian's bats started getting hot cutting the Panthers' lead to two. Jenny Dodd and Haley Stewart whacked out back-to-back doubles and Sidney Russell brought home Dodd on a sac. fly. Right after that, Keri White slapped out a RBI single to open the lane for Stewart to dash home to shrink GSU's lead to 5-3.

With the game close, the Mountaineers were eager to initiate a scoring run to get back into the ballgame, but the Panthers halted App State's offensive attack and snagged game two away from the Apps.

Up Next

The Black and Gold will wrap up their conference series with Georgia State tomorrow, March 26, at noon at the Robert E. Heck Softball Stadium.

— appstatesports.com —