CHARLESTON, S.C. - The Cleveland State Vikings softball team used a dominant effort from its pitching staff to notch its first doubleheader sweep of the season on Sunday afternoon, topping College of Charleston by scores of 2-0 and 3-1.
Game One Recap – Vikings 2, Cougars 0
Hanna Griffin's second consecutive complete game was a shutout as the Vikings won 2-0 to open the afternoon. Griffin (2-1) needed only 79 pitches to cruise through seven scoreless innings of five-hit ball.
Griffin logged three strikeouts and held Charleston without a single hit across seven opportunities with runners in scoring position.
Cleveland State capitalized on a Cougars miscue in the second inning to take a 1-0 lead when Courtney Fernette scored from second base on a dropped flyball on the third base side.
Jenna Deang led off the third frame with a single before advancing to second on a groundout and stealing third. Deang completed her trek around the basepaths when Taylor Duncan logged a two-out RBI single for a 2-0 Vikings advantage.
Griffin retired 12 of the final 15 Charleston batters to end the game. The junior worked out of a one-out jam with runners on second and third in the seventh inning to keep the Cougars off the board.
The Vikings nearly added some insurance runs in the fifth frame with back-to-back two-out hits by Kiera Frascone and Duncan, but a groundout to second base halted the opportunity.
Deang posted the first multi-hit game of her career while Duncan went 2-3 and was responsible for the lone RBI of the game.
Alexa Sieger notched her first collegiate hit in the sixth inning with a single to the left side of the infield.
Game Two Recap – Vikings 3, Cougars 1
Junior Taylor Betz and freshman Jenna Watts stifled Charleston's bats en route to a 3-1 victory and a sweep for the day in game two.
Betz worked five innings and allowed zero earned runs on six hits with five strikeouts. Watts took over in the sixth frame and gave up only one hit while recording the final six outs to pick up her first save.
Charleston plated its first and only run of contest in the opening inning thanks to an RBI double to center field by three-hole hitter Payton Wade.
With only one out and runners on second and third, Betz escaped with no further damage by inducing a lineout to second base before posting a swing-and-miss strikeout.
The Vikings answered quickly, scoring all three of their runs in the top of the second inning. Kaelin Ettinger smacked a two-out double to left field before Deang drew a walk.
Both runners advanced on a wild pitch, setting up a two-run RBI single for Bajusz. Frascone followed it up with an RBI hit of her own to make it 3-1 Vikings.
Bajusz and Frascone went a combined 4-7 with three RBI, a walk and a stolen base. The duo forms a formidable one-two punch at the top of the Vikings order, with Bajusz batting at a .357 clip compared to .321 for Frascone.
Cleveland State owned a 9-7 edge in hits and dominated their two-out at-bats, hitting .462 (6-13) as a team.
UP NEXT
The Vikings head back to South Carolina next weekend for a four-game series against Presbyterian College.