Two More Road Wins for West Liberty Softball
ATHENS, W.Va. – The West Liberty University softball team broke out the late-inning lightning to sweep a Mountain East Conference doubleheader at Concord on Sunday afternoon.
Coach Herb Minch's Hilltoppers (15-9, 11-5) completed a 6-0 road swing with comeback victories of 2-1 and 5-4 against the Mountain Lions (10-16, 8-10). The second game went nine innings.
In the opener, West Liberty scored twice in the top of the seventh to pull out the win. After a leadoff walk, Katelynn Blair slammed an RBI double off the left field fence to tie the game at 1-1. An errant throw from the outfield following an Allie Cook single allowed the go-ahead run to cross the plate.
Annie Paterson pitched into the sixth, holding the hosts to one run while striking out 11 with no walks. Makenzie Amend relieved Paterson in the sixth and worked her way out of a jam to get the win. Riley Bennington hurled a scoreless seventh for the save.
The Hilltoppers dug themselves out of a 4-0 hole in the second game and did it with a 4-run uprising in the top of the sixth. A 2-run single by Sidney Little and an RBI base knock from Katelynn Blair fueled the rally that ultimately sent the game into extra innings.
West Liberty scratched out a run with some aggressive baserunning n the top of the ninth. After Kat Donzella and Katie Beeman laced out back-to-back singles, they took off on a double-steal and Donzella sprinted home when the throw sailed down the left field line.
Bennington, who blanked the Mountain Lions on two hits over the final four innings, worked out of a bases-loaded jam in the bottom of the ninth to earn the win.
Laral Saunders had a double and two singles for the Black and Gold while Donzella and Beeman each stroked out a pair of hits to help lead an 11-hit attack. Bennington, Amend and Taylor Bonnett combined for 13 strikeouts in the circle.
SOFTBALL
West Liberty 2, Concord 1
West Liberty 000 000 2 – 2 6 0
Concord 000 010 0 – 1 8 1
WLU: Paterson (11SO, 0W), Amend wp (6) (1SO, 0W), Bennington (7) (0SO, 1W) and Donzella. K.Blair D, rbi
CU: Thompson (5SO, 2W) and Stewart. Thompson HR, D, rbi; Bloomingdale 2S; Witt D
West Liberty 5, Concord 4
West Liberty 000 004 001 – 5 11 2
Concord 103 000 000 – 4 6 3
WLU: Amend (4SO, 1W), Bonnett (3) (2SO, 0W), Bennington (6) (7SO, 2W) and Donzella. Saunders D, 2S; Donzella 2S; Beeman 2S; Little S, 2rbi; K.Blair S, rbi
CU: Schoolcraft (9SO, 4W) and Richardson, Stewart (5). Fitzpatrick HR, 3rbi; Witt 2S, rbi; Thompson 2S