TROY, Ala. – Taking a one-run lead into the bottom of the seventh inning after
Leah Gore swatted a solo home run in the top half, the App State Softball team retired the first two Louisiana batters in the inning and looked poised to move on to the semifinal round. But the Ragin' Cajuns tallied two hits and a walk to load the bases, and Sam Roe sent a walk-off two-run double into right field, winning the quarterfinal matchup 2-1.
App State (23-27) saw two balls just miss the gloves of its fielders with two outs in the seventh as a ball bounced off of
Grace Barrett's glove on a hard ground ball up the middle that resulted in a Louisiana (29-24) single and a hit came off a diving Gore in left field to put two runners in scoring position for the Cajuns' third hitter. The Mountaineers fielded it well all game, but just missed on those opportunities, and Louisiana capitalized.
In what turned out to be a fast-paced pitcher's duel between
Sophie Moshos and Louisiana's Mallory Wheeler, the Mountaineers collected just four hits, with two of them being extra-base hits from Gore.
Marti Henkel sent a single through the left side with two outs in the seventh inning, and
Summer Simpson reached on an infield hit in the sixth. Gore's seventh-inning home run broke up the dueling shutouts between the two pitchers.
Making her 27th start of the season, Moshos was dynamite as she held the Ragin' Cajuns scoreless through 6.2 innings and faced little adversity despite allowing 10 hits. Although she struck out just one hitter, the Cajuns didn't see a runner reach third base until the bottom of the fifth frame. For the game, Louisiana batted just 3-13 with runners on base against Moshos and 1-5 with runners in scoring position.
How it Happened
Starting the game at the plate, the Mountaineers recorded the first hit of the game as Gore swatted her first career triple into right field with two outs to put a runner on third. Seeing an early threat manufacture, Louisiana retired the side and left the runner stranded after forcing a flyout.
In almost identical manner, the Ragin' Cajuns tallied a two-out hit, but Moshos left her stranded to keep the game scoreless. The Cajuns recorded another hit in the second after a clean top half on defense, but the Mountaineers kept her at first base to move the game to the third.
Makayla McClain reached first base on a hit-by-pitch with two strikes in the top of the third, but Louisiana kept the score at zero after a groundout. The Cajuns saw their first runner of the game reach second base in the bottom half of the frame, but Moshos tallied her first and only strikeout of the game to leave her at second.
App State went quietly in its half of the fourth, but Moshos kept the scoreboard deadlocked at zero after working around a one-out single. Louisiana saw its first real scoring threat in the bottom of the fifth after tallying two hits to put runners on the corners with two outs, but Moshos forced a flyout to center to end the threat.
Simpson tallied App State's first hit since Gore's triple in the top of the first after reaching on an infield hit to third base. Nothing came of the leadoff single as Louisiana recorded a flyout and turned a double play to send the action to the bottom half of the sixth.
Louisiana again threatened in its half of the sixth, tallying a single before moving the runner to second base on a sacrifice bunt. With one out, Moshos settled back in and induced a flyout to left and a groundout, which sent this scoreless game into the final inning.
As they had done so often this season, App State found late thunder and took the lead in the top half of the final inning. Gore took the first pitch for a ball and then sat on a 1-0 ball from Wheeler and launched it over the right-field wall to break the stalemate. The Cajuns didn't let any more runs score after Gore's home run, and App State carried a one-run advantage into the final half-inning of play.
Facing Louisiana's eighth, ninth and leadoff hitters in the bottom of the seventh. Moshos forced a flyout and a groundout to record the first two outs. Looking to send the Mountaineers to the semifinal round, Moshos got ahead of Maddie Hayden, the Cajuns' leadoff hitter, but she slapped a single that just missed the glove of Barrett. Seeing a runner on first, Louisiana's second hitter slapped a sinking liner into left field that threatened to find grass. Gore dove at it, but the ball just missed her glove and squirted away. When the Mountaineers corralled the ball, Louisiana had runners on second and third with two outs.
After a mound visit, the Mountaineers decided to pitch around Emily Smith, the Sun Belt's Freshman of the Year, which loaded the bases for Roe. Roe worked ahead in the count and on a 3-2 pitch with the bases loaded and two outs, she sent a line drive into right-center field that found the gap and scored two. Despite only recording one hit with a runner in scoring position in the game, Louisiana had won 2-1.
Quarterfinal Notes
Home runs
App: Gore (11)
UL: N/A
WP: Mallory Wheeler (13-8): 7 IP, 4 hits, 1 run, 0 walks, 6 strikeouts
SV: N/A
LP:
Sophie Moshos (16-10): 6.2 IP, 10 hits, 2 runs, 1 walk, 1 strikeout
