CONWAY, S.C. – After a two-run home run by Coastal Carolina tied the score at three in the bottom of the fourth inning, the App State softball team used a
Grace Barrett two-RBI double in the top of the fifth to give it a lead it wouldn't relinquish, as it scored four runs in the final three innings to post a 7-3 win in its Sun Belt opener on Friday. The win was App State's seventh in a row.
The Mountaineers (20-5, 1-0 SBC) fell behind in the third inning after the Chanticleers (12-14, 0-1 SBC) hit a solo home run, but a pair of home runs by
Macy Hamby and
Emilie Ching pushed them in front. App State answered each Coastal Carolina run with a crooked number in the next half inning both times the Chanticleers scored.
Making her Sun Belt Conference debut, freshman pitcher
Camryn Fisher dazzled against one of the Sun Belt's top offenses, allowing just three runs in a complete-game effort. Fisher worked around eight hits and three walks to keep the Chanticleers at bay and threw 136 pitches in her gritty effort. The win for Fisher was her 11th, which is tied for the second-most in the league.
How it Happened
Neither side opened the game strongly on offense, as both sides tallied a zero in the first inning despite seeing some traffic on the basepaths. App State again went quietly in both the second and third innings, and Coastal Carolina took advantage of that to score the first run of the game via a two-out solo home run by Delaney Keith to break the stalemate.
Trailing for the first time since March 1 against No. 1 Tennessee, App State responded immediately to tie the score, as Hamby delivered a home run to center field. Barrett followed that up with a single, and after an out, Ching blasted a long two-run home run to left field to give App State its first lead of the contest at 3-1.
Coastal Carolina answered to tie the score with another two-out home run, this one a two-run shot, and the game moved to the fifth inning tied at three. But just as it did before, App State tallied two runs to take the lead right back in the top of the fifth. Barrett helped score a
Julia Girk bunt single and a
Makayla McClain single into left field with a two-out, two-run double that put App State on top for good.
Fisher worked around two Chanticleer singles in the bottom of the inning to keep App State's lead, and the Mountaineers posted two crucial insurance runs in the sixth to extend their lead. After Ching walked and
Emersyn Presutty ran for her at first,
Leah Gore laid down a sacrifice bunt to advance Presutty to second. Not stopping after the throw to first, Presutty raced to a vacant third base before the throw got away and allowed her to score App State's sixth run.
Immediately after Presutty's heroics,
KB Bradshaw tripled to deep center field, and
Madison Fletcher came off the bench to deliver her home with an RBI single to center field. Now leading by four, Fisher posted a scoreless sixth to maintain App State's lead, before working around a hit-by-pitch and a double in the seventh to secure the Mountaineers' 20th victory of the season.
Friday Notes
Home runs
App: Hamby (2), Ching (6)
CCU: Keith (5), Cash (5)
WP:
Camryn Fisher (11-3): 7 IP, 8 hits, 3 runs, 3 walks, 5 strikeouts
SV: N/A
LP: Abby Henderson (5-8): 5.1 IP, 7 hits, 7 runs, 2 walks, 2 strikeouts
Up Next
The Mountaineers and Chanticleers will continue their three-game series with the middle game on Saturday. First pitch from St. John Stadium is slated for 2 p.m., and the game will be broadcast on ESPN+.
