Liberty Rallies For 8-5 Win Over Gardner-Webb In Big South Opener
May 08, 2014 | Softball
CONWAY, S.C. --- Taylar Pridgen (Trinity, N.C.) picked up three hits, Savannah Burns (Vale, N.C.) drove in three runs and Samantha Meenaghan (Atlantic Beach, Fla.) added a pair of base knocks as ninth-seeded Liberty plated five runs in the sixth inning to rally for an 8-5 victory over eighth-seeded Gardner-Webb in the opening round of the Big South Conference Softball Tournament on Thursday morning.
With the win, Liberty (11-44) advances to face top-seeded and regular season champion Coastal Carolina later Thursday. Gardner-Webb ends the season with a 16-36 record, including a 6-17 mark in Big South play.
Each team tallied 11 hits in the contest, combining to strand 16 runners on base, as Liberty was charged with two errors.
Pridgen led the way for the Runnin' Bulldogs with a 3-for-4 day, as Meenaghan, Burns and Kellie Beres (Greenville, N.C.) each added two hits. Burns drove in three runs in the contest, while Megan Gibbons (Benson, N.C.) contributed an RBI of her own.
Meenaghan caps her career with a .408 lifetime batting average, finishing as the program's all-time leader in batting average, hits, total bases and runs scored. She was named to the Big South All-Conference First Team each of her four seasons, including Freshman of the Year honors as a rookie.
Jessica Childers (Jacksonville Beach, Fla.) went the distance for Gardner-Webb, striking out two and walking three in seven innings of work. Childers caps her career ranked third all-time in complete games and innings pitched, fifth in wins and strikeouts, and eighth in ERA.
Alyssa Gutierrez (Wake Forest, N.C.) finished her four-year with 86 appearances, making 34 starts and pitching six complete games. She posted perhaps her best season in 2012, recording five wins while making 23 starts and striking out 50 batters in 106 innings.
Ashley Rhyne (Crouse, N.C.) ends her two-year tenure with the Runnin' Bulldogs with 50 career appearances, including 36 starts and 18 complete games. The senior right-hander picked up 13 wins over the last two seasons, including a five-inning no-hitter against South Carolina State on March 12.
Elizabeth Williams (Whiteville, N.C.) appeared in 60 games over the course of her career at Gardner-Webb, making 35 starts and posting a .980 fielding percentage behind the plate. She enjoyed perhaps her best season in 2012, setting a career high in batting average while launching her first career home run last spring against Radford on April 27.
Kelby Allen led the way for Liberty with two hits (both home runs) three RBI and three runs scored. Megan Robinson, Katie Han and Blair Lawrence each added two base knocks, while Grace Nordan drove in four runs with a grand slam.
Annah Jo Brittingham earned the win for Liberty, allowing three earned runs on 11 hits and striking out four in seven innings of work.
The Runnin' Bulldogs wasted little time opening the scoring, taking an early 1-0 lead when Meenaghan scored on an error by the third baseman. Burns then stepped in and crushed the first pitch to left field, missing a three-run homer run by inches as the ball bounced off the top of the wall and fell in for a double, scoring Beres from second to double the advantage to 2-0.
Liberty evened things up in the top of the third, knotting the score at 2-2 when Allen launched a two-run home run off the scoreboard in right, scoring Robinson. Gardner-Webb quickly answered in the home half, reclaiming the lead on a two-run single by Burns to take a 4-2 advantage with Burns' second and third RBIs of the day.
Allen struck again in the sixth, launching a leadoff home run to left to cut the advantage to 4-3. The Flames continued the inning with three straight singles, loading the bases with no outs on a single through the left side by Lawrence. Nordan gave Liberty its first lead of the game three batters later, lining a 3-2 pitch over the wall in left for a go-ahead grand slam to put the Flames up, 7-4.
Gardner-Webb battled back in the home half, cutting the margin to 7-5 on a two-out RBI single by Gibbons that plated Meenaghan from second. The Flames then buckled down to retire the side, preserving the two-run lead heading into the seventh.
Liberty added an insurance run in the seventh, pushing the lead to 8-5 with an RBI single by Lawrence. The Runnin' Bulldogs fought back in the home half, putting the leadoff batter on following an error by the shortstop and pushing the runner to second on a fielder's choice for the second out. Brittingham closed out the victory from there, striking out the final batter to push the Flames through to the next round.
Gardner-Webb ends the campaign with a 16-36 overall record and a 6-17 mark in Big South play. The Runnin' Bulldogs are expected to return 11 letter-winners next season, including rising seniors Burns, Beres, Pridgen and Amanda Gomes (Coral Springs, Fla.).
| Box Score: Liberty 8, Gardner-Webb 5 |
