Charleston, SC-The Cleveland State softball team split two games for the second consecutive day in the opening tournament of the 2024 season. The Vikings defeated Saint Joseph's 8-4 in the first game of the day, before falling in six innings to the College of Charleston 11-3 in the nightcap. Cleveland State is 2-2 on the young season and will look to finish the weekend with a winning record with one final game tomorrow morning against East Carolina.
The first game against Saint Joseph's was back and forth until the Vikings exploded in extra innings to come away with the victory. Cleveland State trailed by a run twice before coming back to tie it both times to send the game to extra innings.
Saint Joseph's led 1-0 in the third inning when Kiera Frascone led off with an infield single. Jenna Deang reached base on catcher's interference to put runners on first and second with nobody out. A sacrifice bunt moved the runners to second and third before Brooke Albaugh knocked in Frascone with an RBI single to tie the score at 1.
The Hawks got a run in the fourth inning to take the lead back. The Vikings responded in the fifth. Jenna Deang laced a one-out single through the left side and Kylie Gorsuch followed with an RBI double, her first run driven in of her college career, to tie the score at 2.
Melissa Holzopfel was once again stellar in the circle, as she yielded just one earned run through seven innings of work. Holzopfel was able to keep the Hawks off the scoreboard and the two teams headed to extra innings.
Following a scoreless eighth inning, Cleveland State struck for six runs to blow the game wide open in the ninth inning. The Vikings sent eight hitters to the plate, nearly batting around in the inning. Emma Gilkerson and Alexa Sieger had RBI singles, with a Saint Joseph's error leading to another run, and later in the inning Albaugh stepped up and delivered the big hit. She laced an RBI double to left-center field that cleared the bases, scoring three runs to give the Vikings an 8-2 lead. Cleveland State tallied six hits in the inning and left just one runner on base.
The Hawks struck for two runs in the bottom of the ninth but Holzopfel shut the door quickly to thwart any chance for an improbable comeback. She earned her second victory of the season, tallying four strikeouts and surrendering just two earned runs in nine innings of work.
In the nightcap, Charleston got revenge after Cleveland State defeated the host Cougars 2-1 on Friday night. The Vikings took an early 2-0 lead in the first inning thanks to an Albaugh RBI double and a fielder's choice ground ball. Albaugh drove in five runs on the day.
The Cougars struck back for six runs in the third inning and scored in each of the final four frames to open up a lead they would not relinquish. The scoring run culminated with a Halle Cannon two-run home run in the sixth inning that widened the Charleston lead to 11-3 and ended the game due to the run rule.
Cleveland State will finish out the Charleston Invitational with a 10:00 a.m. first pitch tomorrow against East Carolina.
