Lady Cougars Swept by Chattanooga State
Cleveland State softball (10-13, 2-10) travelled the short distance to conference rival Chattanooga State Tigers and lost two games on March 16, 4-0 and 6-4 and then again on March 17, 12-4 and 8-7. In three out of the four games the Cougars took early and late leads by as many as four runs but were not able to hold off the Tigers.
Game One
In leaving eight runners stranded on base in the 4-0 loss to the Chattanooga State Tigers starting Cougar pitcher Shiann Stockwell gave up one earned run as errors in the 1st and 4th led to three of the four Tiger runs. The Cougars loaded the bases in the 3rd but did not score and put two more runners on in the top of the 7th that were left on base to end the game.
Hailey Galvan reached base three times on a walk, hit by pitch and a 7th inning single while Emily Yell had two hits on the game. Cortney Mooneyham and Macy Bryant each had one hit to round out the Cougars five hits.
Game Two
The Cougars took an early 1-0 lead in the 1st inning when Grayson Brown reach base on a one out hit by pitch and was driven home by a Bryant double. The Tigers answered with two in their half of the 2nd only to see Cleveland State knot the score at two in the 3rd when Brown doubled home Galvan who had walked a stole a base to start the inning.
In the 5th the Cougars would take a 3-2 lead when Galvan would reach base with a one out single to right, moving to second base on a groundout by Pierce and once again was driven home by a Brown double. Chattanooga State tied the score with one run in the 5th and would take the lead with three in the 6th. Cleveland State's rally in the top of the 7th would come up short as they would score only one run when Sadie Coons reach base with a one out single and two batters latter would be sent home by a Pierce single up the middle. The Cougars would leave two runners on base in the 7th as Kaitlyn Pickens pitched the entire game.
Game Three
In jumping out to a 4-0 lead after two innings, the Cougars used solo homeruns off the bat of Brown in the 1st and Mooneyham in the 2nd. Two other runs came in a bases loaded walks to Rachel Pierce and Brown. On the game started by Stockwell, Cleveland State fell short in defensive support by committing six errors while banging out only five hits and receiving six walks. A late inning rally would see the Cougars strand runners without scoring in the 12-4 loss.
Brown and Mooneyham with their homeruns would be joined by Emily Yell who had two hits and Baylee Woods who had one.
Game Four
Once again the Cougars would score in their half of the first when Yell was driven in by a Bryant two out single. Chattanooga would answer with one run in the bottom of the 1st and four more in the 3rd giving them a 5-1 lead. Mooneyham would lead off the 4th with her second homerun of the day and Brown would cut the Tigers lead to 5-4, doubling home Pierce who had singled and Galvan who had doubled to start off the 5th inning.
In the top of the 6th Cleveland State would take a 7-5 lead, scoring three runs as Pierce would single home Tori Ogle who had doubled, Yell would score Stockwell who had singled and finally Pierce would score on an over throw to third base.
Chattanooga State would score three runs of their own in the bottom of the 6th giving them the final margin of victory in the 8-7 Cougar loss. The combination of Cougar pitchers Pickens and Copas was not enough to hold off the Tigers. The Cougars would mount a 10 hit attack throughout the course of the game led by Mooneyham, Galvan and Pierce who had two hits each while Brown, Bryant, Ogle and Stockwell would have one each.
The Cougars return to their home field on Friday March 23 and Saturday March 24 to play conference games vs. Columbia State. Friday's doubleheader is scheduled for 2 p.m. and 4 p.m. while Saturday's games are slated to start at 11 a.m. and 1 p.m.
