LYNCHBURG, Va. – The App State Softball team ran its win streak to three games to open day 2 of the Liberty Softball Invitational, downing the Drexel Dragons in run-rule, walk-off fashion 8-0, but fell 9-1 to the No. 21 Liberty Flames in the nightcap. App State (6-12) has won three of its four contests in Lynchburg after Saturday's split with one more to play on Sunday.
The Mountaineers scorched 14 hits across the doubleheader with 10 coming against Drexel (0-14) in the opening game. App State opened the day by scoring six first-inning runs against the Dragons to pull away early, which led to a wire-to-wire win. The combination of
Leah Gore,
Taylor Chumbley and
Julia Girk posted seven of the 10 Mountaineer hits in game 1 and drove home seven of the eight runs.
Sejal Neas pitched a gem against the Dragons, retiring the first nine hitters she saw and giving up just one hit in her complete-game shutout. Through the first three games of the tournament, the Mountaineer pitching staff allowed just one earned run and eight hits. Additionally, Neas hurled the Mountaineers' second complete game of the season and tallied the team's first shutout of the year. It was Neas' 25th career complete game as a Mountaineer, moving her into fifth place on the Mountaineers' complete games list.
For the day, four Mountaineers tallied multi-hit games as Gore, Chumbley, Girk and
Olivia Cook each recorded at least two hits for the doubleheader. Cook drove home a run against Drexel and smacked her second hit of the day through the left side against Liberty (16-4).
Makayla McClain tallied her fifth hit of the weekend to lead off the day against the Dragons, while
Grace Barrett and
Macy Hamby helped spark the six-run first inning to start Saturday's action. McClain's hit was her 96th career hit, meaning she needs four more for 100 in her collegiate career.
How it Happened
Game 1: App State 8, Drexel 0 (5 Innings)
After a perfect top of the first inning from Neas, the App State bats exploded for six runs on six hits in the bottom of the first to immediately jump in front by six runs after a full inning. The Mountaineers saw 11 hitters come to the plate in the inning and stole three bases against the Dragons.
McClain started the game with her fifth hit of the weekend and stole second base to put a runner in scoring position for Barrett. Barrett walked to put two runners on, and Hamby stroked a single into left field to load the bases with nobody out for Chumbley.
Chumbley stayed hot at the plate and punched a two-run double into the gap to plate the game's first runs. Gore followed Chumbley's run-scoring hit with a two-run double of her own and made the score 4-0 App State after just five batters.
Still with nobody out and a runner on second, the Dragons retired the next two hitters to bring up Cook with a runner in scoring position. Cook kept the inning alive by depositing a single into right field to plate Gore. Then, Girk shot a double to the left-center field wall on the first pitch she saw to plate Cook and turned the App State lineup over in the first. McClain reached base for the second time in the inning, but Drexel finally recorded the last out. After one inning, the Mountaineers led 6-0.
Neas answered the outburst from her offense by posting a perfect second inning, highlighted by two strikeouts. The Mountaineer bats saw two more runners reach scoring position in the second inning thanks to a Chumbley single and Gore's second double of the game, but the Dragons kept App State off the scoreboard after a pitching change.
The Mountaineer defense posted another perfect frame in the third inning as Neas sat down the first nine hitters she saw in the game. A dueling zero posted by Drexel moved action to the fourth inning, which saw Drexel get their only hit of the game, but Neas worked around a two-out triple to post another zero.
Another quick frame by either side sent the game to the bottom of the fifth inning with the Mountaineers still ahead by six. Looking to end the contest early, Gore swatted her second career homer over the left-field wall to swell the Mountaineers ahead by seven with nobody out. After an out recorded by the Dragons,
Grace Taylor reached second base on a fielding error and Cook walked to put two runners on for Girk.
Needing one run to end the game, Girk sent a 1-1 pitch to the left-center field gap that rolled to the wall and allowed Taylor to score from second. Girk's walk-off double against the Dragons marked the Mountaineers' first run-rule victory of the season and the team's first run-rule win since defeating Western Carolina 10-2 in six innings last April.
Game 1 Notes
Home runs
App: Gore (2)
Drexel: N/A
WP:
Sejal Neas (2-3): 5 IP, 1 hit, 0 runs, 0 walks, 5 strikeouts
SV: N/A
LP: Madison Taylor (0-6): 1.1 IP, 8 hits, 6 runs, 2 walks, 0 strikeouts
Game 2: App State 1, No. 21 Liberty 9 (6 Innings)
In the Mountaineers' fourth game against an opponent that is currently ranked in the top 25, the 21st-ranked Liberty Flames scored three runs in the first to pull ahead early. App State answered with a run in the top of the second, but the Flames used a five-run fourth inning and a walk-off home run to run-rule the Mountaineers to close out day 2 of the Liberty Softball Invitational.
The Flames retired the Mountaineers in order to open the game and wasted no time to take an early three-run lead. Liberty tallied four straight hits to open the game, which led to three runs.
Ava Beamesderfer, who came on in relief after the third hitter of the ballgame, ended the inning with a strikeout to quiet the fray.
App State responded with a run to close its gap down to two after the second inning. Gore reached base via an error and after seeing the second out go down,
Grace Taylor stroked her first career hit through the left side to put two runners on with two outs. Cook followed up with a single to load the bases and Girk drove home Gore to plate the Mountaineers' first run. Liberty left the bases loaded and maintained its lead into the bottom half of the inning.
Beamesderfer worked around a leadoff single in the bottom of the second to keep the Flames off the board. Chumbley recorded her third hit of the day with two outs in the top of the third, but the Mountaineers couldn't score, keeping it a two-run game.
App State's defense sat down the first two Flame batters in the third inning but saw a single drop into left-center field to put a runner on. Liberty's Paige Doerr then stole second and third base, but a groundout induced by Beamesdefer ended the inning and stranded the runner.
Taylor reached base for the second time in the contest via an error but couldn't score. The Flames took the momentum from the scoreless inning and scored five times in their half of the fourth. Liberty sent nine hitters to the plate in the frame and capitalized on a crucial error to post a big inning.
The Mountaineers couldn't retaliate, and the Flames tallied two more baserunners in the fifth inning, but
Bel Varadi kept them stranded in her first full inning of work after coming on in relief in the fourth. Chumbley reached first again in the top of the sixth, but App State couldn't advance her any further and the game went to the bottom of the sixth with Liberty carrying a seven-run lead.
After Varadi recorded the first out of the sixth, Doerr homered to right center to walk off the Mountaineers. App State tallied four hits and had seven baserunners, but couldn't find the timely hits when it needed them and fell to the host school.
Game 2 Notes
Home runs
App: N/A
Liberty: Doerr (2)
WP: Paige Bachman (5-1): 6 IP, 4 hits, 1 run (0 earned runs), 0 walks, 3 strikeouts
SV: N/A
LP:
Mollie Bulla (0-2): 0 IP, 3 hits, 3 runs, 0 walks, 0 strikeouts
Up Next
The Mountaineers will conclude action at the Liberty Softball Invitational with a meeting with the Georgetown Hoyas on Sunday. First pitch is slated for noon.
