ELON, N.C. — Emily Parrott's walk-off home run to begin the bottom of the seventh inning Saturday night gave App State a 5-4 win against IUPUI and a 1-1 record on the opening day of the 2022 season.
Playing the first two of its four games at the Elon Softball Classic, the Mountaineers wrapped up a long Saturday by building a 4-0 lead against IUPUI, which tied the game with two runs apiece in the sixth and seventh innings. The game didn't remain tied for long, as Parrott homered to straightaway center to cap a 2-for-3 game that included three RBIs.
App State started the day with a 3-1 loss to a Saint Francis program that went 40-10 and played in an NCAA Regional last season.
Over two games Saturday, App State pitchers
Kaylie Northrop,
Taylor Nichols,
Delani Buckner and
Sejal Neas allowed one earned run and registered 15 strikeouts over a combined 14 innings. Northrop, the Game 1 starter, and Neas, who picked up the Game 2 win in relief, were making their App State debuts.
On Sunday, App State plays at noon with a rematch against Saint Francis and closes the weekend with a 2:30 p.m. game against Elon on its home field.
GAME 2 RECAP
App State scored in the first, third, fourth and fifth innings to take control before IUPUI used a late rally to tie the game.
Tying Parrott for the team lead in hits,
Emma Jones went 2-for-4 with a triple and one run scored.
Jones tripled to lead off the bottom of the first, and
Kayt Houston stole second after walking behind Jones. Jones then scored on Parrott's sacrifice fly to right.
Another leadoff hit contributed to a run in the third, as freshman
Addie Wray singled and moved to second on Jones' second hit of the game. Wray scored on Parrott's single to left.
Mary Pierce Barnes doubled to lead off the bottom of the fourth, giving App State another key leadoff hit, and she moved to third on pinch-hitter
Kati Waalk's groundout before scoring on a fielder's choice to second from
Kennedy Upshire.
Buckner used a strikeout to escape a first-inning jam with runners at the corners, threw a 1-2-3 second and struck out the last two batters of the third, helped by an out after IUPUI tried to stretch a leadoff single into a double.
The first two IUPUI batters of the fourth reached, but Buckner ended her outing with a pop-out, foul-out and strikeout.
She gave way to Neas, a freshman who had two strikeouts in a 1-2-3 fifth. IUPUI scored two runs (one earned) in the sixth and two unearned runs in the seventh, but Neas finished with five strikeouts in her three innings of work.
GAME 1 RECAP
App State allowed three unearned runs, including two in the third inning, but cut its deficit to 2-1 in the sixth inning.
Jones was hit by a pitch before Houston singled, and Jones scored on
Baylee Morton's one-out single through the left side. A pop-out and groundout stranded the tying run at third, and Saint Francis added an insurance run in the top of the seventh inning.
Kam Caldwell accounted for two of App State's five hits.
Northrop allowed three hits and struck out three batters without allowing an earned run through five innings, and Nichols struck out two batters while not allowing an earned run over the final two innings.
App State had several highlight-reel defensive plays, as Upshire caught a line drive to third and applied a tag for a double play that erased a leadoff double. Parrott threw home to Morton from left field to prevent a run from scoring, and Wray made a diving stop at second before throwing to first for the out.
