Athens – Glenville State softball coach Sara Scoone was happy with what her pitchers did in Wednesday’s doubleheader matchup with Concord.
Her dissatisfaction came with the defense behind them.
Concord capitalized on six Glenville State errors across two games, sweeping the twin bill 2-0 and 7-3 in Athens.
In the first game, a pitcher’s duel, Concord head coach Alyssa Morris relied on her No. 8 and No. 9 hitters to execute a pair of bunts early, setting the table for the top of the order.
“I have a fast team and they’re pretty smart on the base paths and we take advantage of it when we see there’s not bases being covered and everything like that,” Morris said. “We test their defense and when they make mistakes we take advantage of it.”
Back to back bunts from Hanna Hylton and Delaney Fulk were unable to be fielded by Glenville’s infield, putting runners on first and second for Laura Thompson, who lined a double that scored Hylton’s pinch runner, Imani Campbell.
Glenville State pitcher and Wyoming East graduate Holly Brehm nearly stranded both runners in scoring position with a pair of strikeouts but a wild pitch eventually allowed Fulk to score, bringing home the second and final run of the contest.
Meanwhile her counterpart, Caitlyn Bauer, stifled the Lady Pioneers at the plate, allowing just two hits and striking out 10 batters.
In the second game of the doubleheader the errors were frequent, hurting Glenville from the jump.
An error at third on another CU bunt allowed Kylee Stacy to reach and following the theme of the first game, Morris strategized and rolled the dice, allowing the freshman to successfully steal second. With two outs Courtney Raines plated Stacy with a single, a sign of what was to come.
After Glenville pitcher Madison Thimmes retired the first two batters of the third inning, miscues began to loom large.
An error by Thimmes and a hit batsmen brought Raines to the plate with two on and she again answered the call, driving in two more runs with a single as an error allowed her to race around to third base.
She later scored on an RBI single from Cassidy Garvey, staking the hosts to a 4-1 lead.
“I am frustrated,” Scoone said. “Ten errors, seven unearned runs. We pitched well and only gave up two earned runs.”
The Lady Pioneers sparked a rally in the next frame with a leadoff double that was driven in by Sophia Delvecchio. Kaelyn Stenger kept the train rolling with a two-run shot that landed on the tennis courts beyond the left field fence. But the Mountain Lions didn’t let off the gas.
An RBI single from Thompson in the bottom of the frame pushed the lead back to two at 5-3 and the hosts found their stroke at the plate. A pair of hard hits and errors in the fifth inning allowed CU to tack on two more runs, the final ones of the game.
The highlight of the frame came when Sarah Thompson hit a liner to the outfield that rolled to the fence, allowing her to round the bases on the play.
“It was more of just sitting back and waiting for our pitch,” Morris said. “The first few innings we were way ahead of the ball so we were grinding out a lot. I told them to relax and settle at the plate and find their pitch and when they did that, that’s when they really started to put the ball in play.”
Concord improves to 10-24 (3-11 MEC) while Glenville drops to 6-20 (2-12 MEC).
The Mountain Lions will travel to Wheeling on Saturday for another doubleheader while Glenville will look to snap a five-game skid that same day when it travels to West Liberty.
Email: tylerjackson@lootpress.com and follow on Twitter @tajck94
Game 1
Game 2
