USC Aiken Unable to Claw Their Way Past No. 10 Jaguars
AUGUSTA, GA.
– The USC Aiken softball team dropped a pair of close
non-conference games to rival and 10th-ranked Augusta State Monday
afternoon at Jaguar Field. The Jaguars had to rely on a Jessica
Thornton two-run home run to lift them to victory in eight innings
in the first game to come out with the 4-3 victory and withstood a
late Pacer surge in the second game to squeak out a 3-2 win.
Augusta State
improves to 27-9 for the 2010 season while the Pacers fall to
13-16.
The Pacers were
able to make both games interesting by never letting the Jaguars
get ahead by more than two runs.
In the first
game Lindsey Jones (North Augusta, S.C./North Augusta) led off the
top of the fourth inning by reaching base on an error by the
shortstop with USC Aiken down 2-0. After another Jaguar error
placed Kellie King (Chesterfield, S.C./Chesterfield) on base, Blair
Warren (Darlington, S.C./Florence-Darlington Tech) was able to
capitalize on a third error, this time on the catcher who beamed
Warren on her way to first while Jones crossed the dish.
With King on
third base, Whitney Clary (Newberry, S.C./Newberry HS) sent a hard
hit ball to the second baseman who mishandled the ball trying to
get it to the first baseman allowing King to score to bring the
Pacers even with the Jaguars at 2-2.
Neither team
could find the go-ahead run in the closing innings of regulation
sending the game into extra innings. The Pacers started off the
eighth inning with Lauren Locklear in prime position on second due
to the extra inning rule in softball.
Locklear
(Charleston, S.C./Wando) advanced to third off the bat of Jones who
grounded out to the first baseman. The designated player King was
able to capitalize on Locklear’s position by sending a
sacrifice fly to deep center field to put the Pacers ahead 3-2,
making it appear that the Pacers were on their way to an upset
victory.
In a situation
straight out of the movies, with the game on the line in the bottom
of the eighth inning, Thornton stepped to the plate with two outs
and one runner on ripping a ball deep over the right field fence to
squeeze garner the 4-3 victory for the Jaguars.
Sara DeMuth took
the win for the Jaguars on the mound striking out 11 batters in
eight innings of work. She improves to 12-2 for the season.
Kathleen Nichols
(Orange City, Fla./Daytona Beach) took the loss in the circle for
USC Aiken fanning seven batters. She falls to 1-6 on the 2010
season.
The Pacers were
able to take an early lead in the second game when Locklear sent a
sacrifice fly to left field to score Kellie Hair (Aiken, S.C./Aiken
Tech) putting the Pacers up 1-0 in the top of the third inning.
The lead did not
last long as Augusta State scored all three of their runs in the
bottom of the inning off three hits.
In the top of
the seventh inning, the Pacers attempted a come back led by
multi-threat player Toni Flessate who sent a ball to the left field
fence for a double. She was able to score from second when freshman
backstop Nicole Borden (Jacksonville, Fla./The Bolles School)
followed her lead with a single to left field cutting the Jaguar
lead to just one at 3-2.
The Jaguars made
a pitching change to hold on to the win. Despite a valiant effort
that saw USC Aiken load the bases, the Pacers were unable to
capitalize to earn the split.
Emily Corish
earned the win for the Jaguars striking out just one batter while
Kimberly Kennedy earned her third save of the year for Augusta
State. Corish improves to 10-3 on the season.
Flessate (Goose
Creek, S.C./Stratford) took the loss for the Pacers after fanning
six batters. She moves to 6-7 for the 2010 campaign.
USC Aiken will
jump back into conference play with a road doubleheader against
league foe Georgia College & State on Wednesday, Mar. 24 in
Milledgeville, Ga. The first pitch of the day is scheduled to leave
the circle at 4 p.m. with the second game to follow immediately
after at around 6 p.m.
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