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Schedule

Full
Lily Bell vs N.C. A&T @ Catamount Classic
Samuel Wallace - WCU Communications and Marketing
5
Norfolk State NSU 6-11
8
Winner Western Carolina WCU 11-10
Norfolk State NSU
6-11
5
Final
8
Western Carolina WCU
11-10
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R H E
Norfolk State NSU 1 0 0 4 0 0 0 5 9 4
Western Carolina WCU 0 2 0 1 2 3 X 8 11 1

W: Juett, Tessa (3-5) L: Brierra Tyler (3-4)

7
Winner Western Carolina WCU 12-10
2
Boston University BOSTONU 9-9
Winner
Western Carolina WCU
12-10
7
Final
2
Boston University BOSTONU
9-9
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R H E
Western Carolina WCU 0 0 1 0 0 0 6 7 8 1
Boston University BOSTONU 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 2 8 4

W: Fulton, Amanda (6-1) L: Ganino, Haley (0-1)

Game Recap: Softball | | Greg Hartlage, Director of Media Relations

Comebacks Lead Softball to Pair of Wins in Eagle Classic

Sophomore Lily Bell Set Single-Game SB Record (4) vs Norfolk State

Rock Hill, S.C. – Behind a pair of late-inning rallies, Western Carolina softball continued its winning ways on Saturday at the Eagle Classic, downing Norfolk State 8-5 before defeating Boston University 7-2 from the on-campus Eagle & Terry Field.

Sophomore Lily Bell tallied four hits over the two games, including her team-best fifth double of the season, while swiping five bases and tying a single-game record for steals with four in the game-one win over Norfolk State. Classmate Becka Wonsick added a pair of hits, including a double, while also scoring in the six-run seventh against the Terriers.

Sophomore Sydney Dirks had three hits over the course of Saturday, including a pair of homers with five RBIs. Junior Taylor Waitley, senior Mattie Mentel, and sophomore Maya McPherson each had a pair of hits, with McPherson adding three RBIs.

In the circle, senior Tessa Juett came up clutch in relief with five big strikeouts over 2.2 innings of scoreless relief to help preserve the comeback against Norfolk State. Freshman Amanda Fulton grabbed her team-high sixth win of the season with a complete game tallying five strikeouts in the win over Boston University.



Game One – Western Carolina 8, Norfolk State 5
Trailing 5-2 after the top of the fourth, the Catamounts scored the game's subsequent six runs over three innings to flip the contest and stun the Spartans with an 8-5 win in game one.

Norfolk State scored early with a walk and a single, but a double steal, along with a WCU error, allowed the Spartans to gain the early 1-0 advantage.

Lily Bell opened the bottom half with an infield single before a pair of steals got her around to third, but NSU kept the Catamounts off the scoreboard.

Game one starter AG Batson dialed up a pair of strikeouts in a scoreless second inning for WCU. Mattie Mentel began the second with an infield single before Sydney Dirks deposited her first homer of the day to left field and gave WCU a 2-1 lead.

After both teams went 1-2-3 in the third, Norfolk State put together its best inning of the afternoon in the fourth, scoring four times on six hits to take a 5-2 lead after 3.5 innings.

Bell connected on an RBI single in the fourth to help start the comeback for WCU.

Tessa Juett entered in relief in the fifth behind Mackenzie Martin, who ended the fourth and opened the fifth as Juett tallied a pair of strikeouts to end the threat for NSU.

In the fifth, Maya McPherson started with a single and moved to second on an NSU error before an RBI double from Dirks, followed by an RBI single from Becka Wonsick, tied the contest at five.

Juett pitched a 1-2-3 sixth before Rylee Butler gave the Catamounts a lead with an RBI single. An NSU error saw Courtney Marks score with a Mentel sacrifice fly, capping the inning with an 8-5 lead after six innings.

Three runs was plenty of cushion for Juett as she sat the Spartans down 1-2-3 in the seventh with a pair of strikeouts to secure the 8-5 win in game one on Saturday.

Batson got the start for the Catamounts but didn't factor into the decision as she went 3.2 innings, allowing eight hits and five runs, with four of those being earned as she tallied a career-high five strikeouts. Martin allowed one hit and one walk in 0.2 innings of work before Juett (3-5) tossed 2.2 scoreless frames with five strikeouts to help secure the comeback win.

Amaya McPherson started for Norfolk State but didn't factor into the decision as she went 5.0 innings, allowing eight hits and four runs with four strikeouts. Maddy Morris pitched 1.0 inning, allowing two hits and an unearned run before Brierra Tyler (3-4) allowed one hit and three runs, with one being earned as Tyler was saddled with the loss.



Game Two – Western Carolina 7, Boston University 2
In another tight battle with the Terriers, the Catamounts used a six-run explosion in the top of the seventh inning to race past Boston University and claim a 7-2 win for their second straight 2-0 day at the Eagle Classic.

Scoreless after two innings, the Catamounts' offense got going in the third with a one-single from Lily Bell. After she stole second and advanced to third on a groundout, Rylee Butler took advantage of a Terriers error to score Bell and give WCU the 1-0 lead after 2.5 frames.

Game two starter Amanda Fulton worked around a one-out single without trouble with her third strikeout of the contest to keep the lead at one.

Following a scoreless fourth and Boston University thwarting a threat in the fifth from the Catamounts, the Terriers evened the score in the home half of the fifth with a solo homer to left field that tied the contest at a run apiece after five.

Both teams went 1-2-3 in the sixth, sending the contest to the seventh even at one. The seventh started fast for WCU with a leadoff single from Taylor Waitley followed by a double from Bell before a Courtney Marks RBI single gave the Catamounts a 2-1 lead.

One batter later, Maya McPherson lined a two-run double to right-center to score Butler and Marks to double the lead to 4-1. Matte Mentel went first pitch swinging and drove home McPherson to make it 5-1.

The six-run offensive explosion was capped with a two-run homer off the bat of Sydney Dirks to make it 7-1.

Fulton (6-1) tossed her fifth straight complete game on Saturday, scattering eight hits and two runs with five strikeouts. In her last five starts, Fulton is 5-0 with a 1.20 ERA as she's allowed six runs with 36 strikeouts in that stretch as opponents are batting .213 off the Woodstock, Ga. native.

Haley Ganino (0-1) suffered the defeat, allowing eight hits and seven runs, with six of those being earned over 6.1 innings of work. Ganino also added three strikeouts. Megan Coyla tossed the final 0.2 innings for BU.

Western Carolina (12-10) finishes the Eagle Classic on Sunday afternoon with a 12:30 pm start against the host Winthrop from the Eagles on-campus Terry Field. Sunday's rematch with the Eagles will have live stats available through links on CatamountSports.com.

Keep track of everything related to Catamount softball and WCU Athletics through social media outlets on Facebook (fb.com/CatamountSports), Twitter (@Catamounts, @CatamountSB), and Instagram (wcu_catamounts, catamounts), or go to www.CatamountSports.com
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