GWU Wins Friday's Halted Game 3-2 in Eight Innings; Will Take on CSU in a Twin Bill at 2 p.m.
April 23, 2011 | Softball
Charleston, S.C. - The Gardner-Webb softball team found themselves in a unique situation on Saturday morning, as the Runnin' Bulldogs started play in the field with two outs, two runners on base and the scored tied 1-1 in the bottom of the seventh, as GWU and Charleston Southern continued its game from Friday night which was halted due to darkness.
With two runners on base, the first hitter of the day singled through the right side to load the bases for the Buccaneers with two outs. With the winning run on third, GWU freshman hurler Jessica Childers got Charleston Southern's Megan Lombard to line out to third to end the inning and force the game into extra innings.
Senior Kelsey Witter lead-off the eighth with a triple to right center, picking up her second hit of the game. After the next GWU hitter grounded out to third, Melinda Dulkowski would reach base safely on a fielder's choice, while Witter scored on a Buccaneers throwing error on the play to put the Runnin' Bulldogs in front at 2-1.
Gardner-Webb added another run in the top of the eighth, as Dulkowski came around to score, to push its lead to two at 3-1.
Charleston Southern, who tied the score up on Friday night with a run in the bottom of the seventh, lead-off the bottom of the eighth with a single to left field by catcher Erin Kegley. After a CSU strikeout, Jana Matthews singled to right to put runners on first and second with only one out.
GWU got a fielder's choice for the second out of the inning, however, designated player Stephanie Sbardella then singled up the middle to load the bases with two outs.
The next CSU hitter Hayes Holdsworth drew a bases loaded base-on-balls to force in Matthews from third and cut the Gardner-Webb lead to one at 3-2.
The Bucs' Ari Tedesco, who had the game tying RBI single in the bottom of the seventh Friday night, came up to the plate, yet this time Gardner-Webb picked up a huge out, as Tedesco grounded out to second to end the threat and the game, as the Runnin' Bulldogs held on for the 3-2 extra inning win.
On Friday night, when the game initially started, both teams' offenses struggled at the start of the game, as Gardner-Webb went down in order in both the first and the second, while Charleston Southern had three runners reach base on only one hit and two hits batsmen.
The Runnin' Bulldog offense picked up in the top of the third, as Witter singled through the left side to lead-off the inning. After a ground ball out, which moved Witter up to second, and a pop fly out, which moved Witter up to third-base with two outs, freshman Samantha Meenaghan singled to second base to score Witter and put Gardner-Webb on top at 1-0.
Gardner-Webb would only get one more hit, a single off the bat of freshman third-baseman Rachel Jablonski in the top of the fifth, to keep the score at 1-0 heading into the bottom of the seventh inning.
Charleston Southern, who had failed to score despite putting a runner on base in every inning except the sixth, finally got on the scoreboard in the seventh, as Tedesco ripped a two-out RBI single up the middle to score pitch runner Lizzy Olmstead from second and tie the score up at 1-1.
With the score now tied at 1-1 and a runner on both first and second with two outs, the game was halted due to darkness.
Childers (8-9) picked up the eight- inning, two-day win, as the freshman allowed only two runs on eight hits and four walks, while striking out four in the extra inning win.
Charleston Southern's Morgan Dowdy (9-18) suffered the loss, surrendering three runs on only four hits, while striking out four in eight innings of action.
For GWU, Meenaghan was 1-3 with an RBI, a walk and a stolen base, while Witter was 2-3 with a triple and two runs scored and Dulkowski had one RBI and scored one run.
Offensively for Charleston Southern, Tedesco was 1-4 with an RBI single, while Holdsworth was 1-1 with three walks.
Gardner-Webb (12-23, 4-9 Big South) and Charleston Southern (21-29, 7-6 Big South) will wrap up its three-game conference series with a twin bill scheduled for Saturday at 2 p.m., weather permitting. Both games are slated to be video streamed over the Big South Network, while live stats are available at www.gwusports.com.
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| Box Score: Gardner-Webb 3, Charleston Southern 2 (8) |
