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STATESBORO, Ga. – The Kennesaw State softball team split its games on the second day of the Georgia Southern Eagle Classic. The Owls fell to South Carolina in five innings, 12-3, before rebounding with a 6-2 win over the hosts Georgia Southern on Saturday, March 2 at Eagle Field.
The game was a pitcher’s duel with neither team scoring a run in the first four innings. KSU would change that in a big way in the top of the fifth inning, as the Owls scored all six of their runs in the frame.
Freshman
Megan Veringa (Roswell, Ga./Centennial HS) started things off for the Owls, reaching on an error by GSU centerfielder Kaitlyn Johnson and advancing to third on the play. She was brought home a batter later as freshman
Alexis Collis (Blue Ridge, Ga./Fanin County HS) posted an RBI single down the left field line.
Georgia Southern would then commit three-straight errors to score Collis and load the bases for senior
Sharon Swanson (Canton, Ga./Cherokee HS). The Atlantic Sun Preseason All-Conference team member smashed a grand slam to left centerfield to put the Owls up for good at 6-0. It was Swanson’s team-leading third home run of the season.
Tabby Douberley hit a two-run home run to left center in the top of the seventh, but it would not be enough as junior pitcher
Amanda Henderson (Covington, Ga./Eastside HS) closed out her eighth win of the season.
Henderson dominated the Eagles from the circle, totaling a season-high 13 strikeouts in a complete game effort. Henderson did not give up a GSU hit until A.J. Hamilton singled through the left side in the bottom of the fifth inning to break up the no-hitter.
KSU had seven hits to the Eagles’ three, with GSU committing four errors in the contest. Swanson led the Owls with a 2-for-3 performance, four RBI and a run. Collis added two hits, an RBI and a run for Kennesaw State.
GSU pitcher Sarah Purvis (5-5) suffered the defeat for the Eagles, who got two RBI, a hit and a run from Douberley.
South Carolina controlled much of KSU’s first game of the day, scoring runs in four of the five innings played. USC took an early 2-0 lead as Alaynie Page knocked a two-run home run to left field in the first inning of the game.
The Gamecocks added to their lead in the second inning, notching four runs on five hits, including a two-run home from Olivia Lawrence. An inning later, Chelsea Hawkins put USC up 8-0 on the Gamecock’s third two-run homer of the game.
Kennesaw State put three runs on the board in the fourth on a three-run pinch hit double down the left field line from Collis to score Veringa and juniors
Carly Van Auken (Largo, Fla./State College of Florida Manatee-Sarasota) and
Sara Sikes (Douglasville, Ga./Georgia), bringing the Owls to within 8-3.
USC responded with four runs on three hits, including the Gamecock’s fourth home run of the game and a KSU error in the fifth to secure the run-rule victory.
Kennesaw State registered seven hits and two errors, while South Carolina posted 12 hits and an error. Sikes led the Owls with a 2-for-2 performance and a run, while Collis had a hit and three RBI.
Senior
Abbey Mixon (Canton, Ga./Cherokee HS) took the loss for the Owls and moves to 5-2 on the season, while Katelynn Howser (2-0) earned the win for the Gamecocks.
Chelsea Hawkins went 3-for-3 with four RBI and three runs to lead South Carolina.
Keep up with Owls softball this year by following KSU on Twitter at @
KSUOwlsSoftball and @
KSUOwlNation or by liking Kennesaw State Owls on
Facebook.
Kennesaw State is celebrating 30 years of intercollegiate athletics during the 2012-13 academic year.
