CHARLESTON, S.C. – The App State softball team hits the road for another five-game weekend, this time in Charleston, S.C. The Mountaineers take their six-game win streak south to play Bradley, Charleston Southern, North Carolina A&T, College of Charleston and Ohio.
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Last Time Out
The Mountaineers went a perfect 5-0 in the D9 Citrus Blossom Tournament in Orlando, Fla. last weekend. Three of those wins were shutouts as
Sydney Holland and
Kenzie Longanecker (2) threw complete game shutouts.
Taylor Nichols also received a win in the circle on the weekend. App State defeated Bethune Cookman 1-0, 2-0, Charleston Southern 4-0, Lehigh 2-1 and St. Joe's 10-3.
Offensively,
Maegan Calandra,
Sidney Russell and
Taylor Thorp led App State, each hitting above .300 on the weekend. Calandra hit .357, with five hits, four runs and her first collegiate home run. Russell posted a .333 average with four hits, including two doubles, and three RBI. Thorp also had four hits and three RBI, scoring the game-winning RBI both times against Bethune-Cookman.
Baylee Morton was again the RBI leader with five, including a grand slam against St. Joe's.
Senior CLASS
Keri White is one of 30 candidates for the Senior CLASS award. White, a third baseman from Hampstead, N.C., started at third base in all 56 games during her junior year. She was named to the All-Sun Belt Second Team after leading the Mountaineers in seven categories including runs scored (38), hits (66), doubles (11), triples (2), total bases (90), stolen bases (13) and at bats (190). She posted a .347 batting average alongside a .474 slugging percentage and was a perfect 13-for-13 stealing bases.
Off the field, White excels in the classroom as a special education major. She was named to the 2019 Sun Belt Commissioner's List for maintaining a 3.5 grade point average or better during the 2018-19 academic year. She has also been named to the App State Athletics Academic Honor Roll numerous times for having a GPA of 3.25 and above.
Dual-Threat
The pitching duo of Holland and Longanecker was dominant last weekend, throwing four wins and three complete game shutouts between the two of them. Holland posted wins against Bethune-Cookman and St. Joe's, allowing only five hits between the two games. She struck out eight on the weekend. Longanecker's two wins came against Bethune-Cookman and Charleston Southern, both of which were shutouts. The senior allowed just four hits and struck out seven in the two wins.
A Season Ago
The Mountaineers swept the Holy City Showdown last season, tying the longest win streak in program history with seven. App State defeated Darmouth 2-1, College of Charleston 4-1, Radford 2-0, Iowa State 2-1 and Marshall 2-1.
Scouting Bradley
Bradley enters the weekend with a 5-5 overall record. Last weekend at the Golden State Classic, the Braves posted wins over UC Davis 6-3, Army 12-2 and Sacramento State 6-3. Bradley fell to San Jose State 11-0 and Hawaii 8-5. The Braves currently have four players averaging over.400 this season in Taise Thompson (.500), Stacia Seeton (.417, 3 HR, 8 RBI), Sydney Young (.414) and Kealia Wysocki (.407, 1 HR, 11 RBI). In the circle, senior pitcher Emma Jackson is 3-3 on the season with a 3.92 ERA.
Scouting Charleston Southern
The Buccaneers opened their season last weekend at the D9 Citrus Blossom Tournament, going 1-4. Charleston Southern had a win over Lehigh and losses to St. Joe's, Georgia Southern (twice) and App State. The Mountaineers shut out the Buccaneers 4-0 as Longanecker threw a one-hitter.
Alison Durrence and
Emily Parrott were clutch for App State at the plate with RBIs for the Mountaineers. Alyssa Heinrich received the loss in the circle for Charleston Southern, giving up all four runs on four hits and four walks.
Scouting North Carolina A&T
The Aggies enter the weekend 1-6, coming off an 11-5 setback to Winthrop on Wednesday. North Carolina A&T gave up seven runs in the first inning and eventually found themselves down 11-0, but the Aggies would score the final five runs of the game. Junior Bayleigh Kirby started the game in the circle for the Aggies, but freshman Kayla Brown finished the game by pitching the final 6.2 innings, giving up three earned runs on seven hits with three strikeouts. Stephanie Williams and Eternal Fuller lead the Aggies offensively, hitting .429 and .421, respectively.
Scouting College of Charleston
The Cougars enter the weekend 2-6, coming off a 2-2 weekend in Conway, S.C. College of Charleston defeated Jacksonville State 13-6 and Delaware State 15-1. The Cougars fell to Jacksonville State, 20-9, in the second game against the Gamecocks and also lost to Northern Illinois, 3-2. Payton Wade and Gracyn Thrasher lead the offense, hitting .571 and .429, respectively. Wade has 12 hits on the year, including three doubles and three home runs. Thrasher has seven RBI with six hits and two home runs. Three pitchers have seen time in the circle with Summer Jenkins (1-1), Drayton Siegling (1-1) and Chandler Sparkman (0-2). Jenkins has the best ERA thus far with a 3.87.
Scouting Ohio
Ohio is 2-8 on the year after going 2-3 at the Chattanooga Invitational. The Bobcats had wins over Indiana State 10-7 and Lipscomb 3-2, and losses to Western Kentucky 13-4, Lipscomb 4-3 and Marshall 6-5. Baylie Thornhill has seen the most action in the circle, throwing 25.1 innings with a 6.08 ERA. She is 0-3 on the year. Allie Englant and Katie Yun are both hitting over .400 as Englant has 15 hits and 2 RBI, and Yun has 16 hits and nine RBI.
The 2020 App State Softball Season is proudly presented by AutoStar Nissan of Boone, your hometown dealer.
