MONTGOMERY, ALA. – Western Carolina softball opened the 2024 season with a 3-0 victory over Hampton on Friday morning in the first game of the 2024 Stinger Classic, hosted by Alabama State at the Williams Softball Complex. The Catamounts fell to Austin Peay in game two of the tournament to close out the first day of the event.
Three different Catamounts tallied multi-hit games throughout the two contests on Friday as senior Savannah Baldwin posted two hits, including a two-run triple in the opener, along with freshman Sydney Dirks tallying three hits in her collegiate debut with one of those being a double. In game two against Austin Peay, freshman Maya McPherson led the way with three hits, pushing her count to a team-leading four through the first two games.
Game One – Western Carolina 3, Hampton 0
Western Carolina scored all the runs it would need in a three-run fourth inning as the Catamounts claimed their season opener with a 3-0 shutout win over Hampton in the first game of the Stinger Classic.
Freshman Becka Wonsick drove in her first collegiate run on a sacrifice fly to supply the eventual game-winning run for the 1-0 advantage. Savannah Baldwin plated the two additional runs in the frame with a two-RBI triple to right center field.
Junior Tessa Juett tossed her 22nd career complete game to earn the victory after being handed the three-run advantage midway through the game. She recorded eight strikeouts while limiting Hampton to three hits with a pair of walks on the way to her 14th career victory.
Neither team was able to push across any offense in the early going on Friday – but it was not for lack of effort. The Catamounts used a Maya McPherson single followed by a Pirates error and a Jeralynn Wells hit-by-pitch to load the bases before Hampton induced a popout to end the inning and keep WCU off the board.
Juett was dialed in early, working around a two-out hit without harm to keep the game scoreless after one. In the second, WCU was retired in order with Juett working around a little traffic, tallying two more strikeouts to keep the game scoreless.
Western Carolina (1-1) continued to keep traffic on the bases courtesy of hits by Baldwin and Sydney Dirks, but a fielder's choices kept the Catamounts off the scoreboard before Juett followed with a scoreless home half with two more strikeouts.
The Catamounts opened the decisive fourth with a double from Preseason All-Southern Conference selection Natalie Henry. After a sacrifice moved her up to third, Wonsick lifted a sacrifice fly to left to plate the run and give WCU the 1-0 lead. Following a walk by Bethany Dobais and a Lily Bell single, Baldwin laced a triple to right center that scored both and stretched the WCU lead to 3-0 after 3.5 innings.
Juett tossed another zero on the board with her sixth strikeout of the game to help maintain the three-run advantage.
Dirks picked up a double to open the fifth, but the Pirates were able to limit the damage as Hampton held the Catamounts off the bases over the final three frames, followed by Juett facing the minimum and WCU grabbing the 3-0 season opener.
Emily Workman (0-1) was tagged with the loss as she allowed three earned runs in 3.2 innings for Hampton, scattering six hits in her debut outing of the season.
Game Two – Austin Peay 4, Western Carolina 0
Much like Friday's opener, a three-run middle-inning rally proved to be the difference as Austin Peay pushed across a trio of runs in the top of the fifth inning in dropping the Catamounts, 4-0.
Neither team gained traction offensively in the early going. Both teams tallied a single hit in the opening inning including McPherson's first collegiate double as a part of her team-best three-hit outing, but remained scoreless.
Austin Peay put a pair of runners on base in the second, but the threat was thwarted in their chance to score by junior Makenzie Martin. In the home half, the Catamounts drew a pair of walks but the Govs used solid defense to keep WCU off the board.
The Governors got a pair of runners aboard for the second straight inning in the third, but WCU kept them off the board once again as Austin Peay sat WCU down 1-2-3 in the inning.
In the fourth, the Governors put their first two baserunners on before a pair of groundouts to Martin kept the score at zero. McPherson tallied a leadoff single left stranded on the bases to end the fourth.
Austin Peay broke the scoreless tie in the fifth with an RBI groundout followed by a wild pitch and a solo homer in three straight at-bats to allow the lead to stretch to 3-0. Kennedy Stewman tallied a two-out single but was left out on the bases for the Catamounts in the bottom of the frame.
The Governors added one more run in the sixth to stretch the advantage to 4-0 as McPherson tallied another base knock in the home half of the frame for WCU but was left on the bases.
Makenzie Martin (0-1) was saddled with the loss on Friday afternoon as she went 5.1 innings with four runs allowed, only one of which was earned in her season debut.
Jordan Benefiel (1-0) earned the win for Austin Peay, tossing five shutout innings with four strikeouts and a pair of walks allowed en route to earning the decision.
The Catamounts continue their action at the Stinger Classic on Saturday with the first pitch set for 10 a.m. ET / 9 a.m. CT against Houston Christian from the Williams Softball Complex in Montgomery, Ala. Houston Christian opens the Stinger Classic on Friday night against Purdue-Ft—Wayne before battling the Catamounts on Saturday morning.
The matchup with the Huskies will have live stats via CatamountSports.com and a live stream available through Hornets Sports Network (paid subscription required).
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