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Charleston softball sweeps WVSU to extend win streak

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By Michael Carvelli

The University of Charleston softball team was able to continue its recent hot streak on Wednesday, sweeping West Virginia State to improve its winning streak to nine consecutive games.

The Golden Eagles (19-8, 9-1 Mountain East Conference) got outstanding pitching performances from Alli Burdette and Jessie Rowe with some stellar defense behind them in the 2-1 and 3-0 victories.

"It gives you a lot of confidence looking out there and knowing we have two great pitchers that can have games like this for us," UC coach Kim Stiles said. "No matter who's on the mound, they can do their job. That makes the biggest goal for us just getting the run support we need."

In the second game, Rowe gave up her second hit n the top of the second inning before retiring the next 15 batters and not allowing another hit the rest of the game. She finished with four strikeouts and no walks.

After struggling to get a consistent offensive performance in the first game, the Golden Eagles were able to give Rowe a few runs to back up the defensive effort. UC got an RBI double from Laura Ashlock in the first inning and then run-scoring singles from Hannah Kowach and Haleigh Christopher to add a couple of insurance runs.

"Our strategy all season has been to try to manufacture runs - get a base hit, move them around and knock them in once they get in scoring position," Stiles said. "We did a better job of that in the second game and it was good to see us give our pitchers the runs they needed to get it done."

Ashlock was the hero of the first game for Charleston, hitting a two-run home run with two outs in the fourth inning to propel the Golden Eagles to the win despite picking up just two hits off West Virginia State pitcher Emily Thompson.

The Golden Eagles have allowed just one run in the last seven games, and that one run came off the bat of WVSU's Kayleigh Thompson in the second inning of the first game of the doubleheader. Thompson's single that drove in Brittany Allison was the lone run the Yellow Jackets (17-15, 3-7) were able to pick up off Burdette, who allowed six hits and struck out six in the complete-game victory.

"These were two good teams and a couple good games, but unfortunately they got the breaks and we didn't," West Virginia State coach Kerri Blackwell said. "We were really sound defensively, but our bats just didn't perform the way they normally do and we just couldn't get the runs we needed."

Ashlock and Monica Carter had the only hits off Emily Thompson in the first game, with Carter registering hits in both games to extend her hit streak to 14 games and Ashlock driving in three of the five runs scored by UC for the day.

Ashlock, Christopher and Rachelle Toppings all had two hits in the second game for UC, while Shian Meeks recorded a multi-hit game for West Virginia State in the first game.

The first game was Charleston's fifth win in a game decided by one run.

Both Charleston and West Virginia State will be at home this weekend, hosting doubleheaders against Concord and UVa.-Wise.

Contact Michael Carvelli at 304-348-4810 or michael.carvelli@wvgazettemail.com. Follow him on Twitter @carvelli3.


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