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STATESBORO, Ga. – Costly miscues in the field with two outs in the second inning by the Elon softball team led to four unearned runs for the second-seeded Appalachian State Mountaineers on Friday afternoon, May 13, at Eagle Field, as the fifth-seeded Phoenix saw its season come to an end with a 6-5 setback in the 2011 Southern Conference Softball Tournament.
Elon ends the year with an overall record of 30-24, while ASU improves to 24-21 and advances in the tournament to play the winner of College of Charleston and Samford tonight at 5 p.m.
With two outs in the bottom of the second and no one on base, the Mountaineers reached base on back-to-back errors by the Phoenix, which allowed one run to score and make it a 4-2 game. From there, ASU scored three more runs on a pair of RBI singles and an Elon wild pitch to take a 5-4 lead, one it would not relinquish down the stretch.
Emerald Graham led the Elon offense in her final collegiate game, going 3-for-4 at the plate with one RBI. Today marked the final game for Graham and senior teammates Hannah Shelton, Jackie Gonzalez, Caitlin McGowan, Pam DelPizzo and Lauren Taylor.
In her final collegiate start, Taylor took the loss to drop to 13-10 on the year, despite just one of her five runs given up being earned. Taylor went one and two-thirds and gave up six hits and a walk to the Mountaineers.
Kari Pervell pitched two and two-thirds innings of relief, giving up one run on three hits and one walk, while fanning three Mountaineers. #Erin O’Shea# tossed the final one and two-thirds for the Phoenix and surrendered just one walk while striking out four.
Rookie Carleigh Nester ends her freshman campaign on a 10-game hitting streak after going 1-for-3 at the plate with a double, walk and run scored.
Nester got the Elon offense going early in the top of the first after ripping a leadoff double into the gap in left center to put the Phoenix in scoring position. Following a strikeout by McGowan for the first out of the inning, Tomeka Watson reached base and Nester moved to third after a fielding error by ASU third baseman Katie Boyd to put runners on the corners. Watson stole second later in the inning to put runners on second and third with two outs, but Appalachian State starting pitcher Hannah Dow managed to get Kaitlyn Piazzolla to strike out looking to end the threat and the inning. Dow struck out three batters in the first inning.
The Mountaineers put the first run on the board in the bottom of the first inning after Boyd hit a leadoff home run over the center field fence to put the Phoenix down, 1-0.
The Phoenix put runners on first and second to start the top of the second inning after back-to-back infield hits by DelPizzo and Shelton. After Dow hit Danielle Lafferty to load the bases with no outs, Gonzalez came through with a fielder’s choice RBI slapper to third base to tie the game at one apiece with one out. After a Dow wild pitch moved pinch runner McKenzie Harrelson over to third and Gonzalez to second, Nester walked on a full count to load the bases for McGowan. The Phoenix capitalized on an ASU throwing error by Boyd to plate two runs and take a 3-1 lead after her throw to home for the force out sailed over the head of catcher Michelle Lighton, allowing Harrelson and Gonzalez to cross the plate. Elon tacked on one more in the inning on an RBI infield single from Graham to take a 4-1 advantage.
But Appalachian State scored four unearned runs in the bottom half of the second to take a 5-4 lead, as an error at second base with two outs and a wild pitch snowballed into a big inning for the Mountaineers and forced Taylor out of the game for Elon.
Elon threatened in the top of the third after a single up the middle from Lafferty and a double down the right field line from Gonzalez put runners at second and third with two outs. But the Phoenix could not cash in, as ASU center fielder Sarah Rappe made a great catch in center on a deep fly ball hit by Nester.
The Phoenix put runners on first and second with one out in the top of the fourth inning after back-to-back infield singles by Watson and Graham, but the Mountaineers ended the threat after an inning-ending double play kept Elon scoreless.
Smith helped the Mountaineers take a two-run lead in the bottom of the fourth after sending a 1-1 Pervell offering over the left field fence to put the Phoenix behind, 6-4.
The Phoenix capitalized on another Boyd error at third base in the top of the seventh after the third baseman’s throw to first on a Watson grounder pulled the first baseman off the base. After Piazzolla grounded out to short and allowed Graham to reach second with one out, the Phoenix scored one run on a fielder’s choice groundball to short to make it a 6-5 game, but Graham was tagged out on the play at third base for the second out of the inning. The Mountaineers managed to get out of the inning without any additional runs crossing the plate after Shelton grounded out to Dow to end the game.
Dow (13-4) earned the win for ASU after striking out seven over seven innings of work, giving up five runs (one earned) on nine hits and one walk.
Both squads left a total of eight runners on base in the game and the Mountaineers committed a total of four errors to Elon’s two.
-- ELON --
