Nashville, Tenn. – Western Carolina softball earned its second split of weekend action at the Purple & Gold Classic on Saturday, opening the day with a 5-3 win over the event host Lipscomb before dropping a 5-1 decision to Southern Illinois in the nightcap from Draper Diamond.
Sophomore Courtney Marks led the team with four hits in Saturday's two games, including a career-high tying three hits against Lipscomb. Senior Taylor Waitley and junior Lily Bell finished with three hits apiece over the two games, and junior Maya McPherson had two hits, including her team-best fifth double.
Senior Tate Stewman, junior Becka Wonsick, and freshman Autumn Russell also picked up hits on Saturday.
Sophomore AG Batson led the pitching staff with her second complete game of the season as she allowed just two earned runs on the way to her team-high tying fourth win of the season, lowering her ERA to a team-best 1.89.
Game One – Western Carolina 5, Lipscomb 3
Trailing 2-1 entering the sixth inning, Western Carolina used a four-run frame to flip the scoreboard and held on down the stretch for the 5-3 win over the host Lipscomb to complete a mini two-game sweep of the Bisons in Nashville.
The Catamounts pounded out 12 hits in Saturday afternoon's action, led by a three-hit day from Courtney Marks. Junior Lily Bell, senior Taylor Waitley, and junior Maya McPherson each picked up two hits, with McPherson legging out a double in the win. Becka Wonsick, Autumn Russell, and Tate Stewman finished off the hit parade for WCU.
Lipscomb (4-12) drew first blood with a leadoff double and a bunt single that put two on before a RBI groundout for the 1-0 lead after two complete.
Following a quiet third inning, Wonsick opened the fourth with a leadoff single and advanced to second on a groundout before Marks lined a single to right-center and evened the score at one. But Lipscomb regained the lead in the fifth inning with a bases-loaded walk to jump back in front 2-1 after five.
In the sixth inning, the Catamounts lit the scoreboard as Russell drew a one-out walk and loaded the bases after hits from Marks and Bell. Waitley struck with a two-out RBI single to tie the score. WCU took advantage of back-to-back wild pitches to score two more runs before an RBI single from McPherson gave the Catamounts a 5-2 lead.
Lipscomb responded with a two-out walk as a wild pitch allowed the hosts to push across a run and make it 5-3.
Neither team got any traffic on the basepaths as a single baserunner for each team, as WCU held on for the two-run victory.
Batson (4-0) went the distance for WCU, scattering eight hits and allowing three runs with two of those earned en route to her fourth victory of the season. Batson dropped her seasonal ERA down to 1.89 with Saturday's performance.
Elizabeth Martin (0-3) suffered the loss for Lipscomb, tossing 5.2 innings as she allowed 11 hits and five runs in the defeat. Jesyne Espinal faced two batters as she gave up a hit and a walk in limited action. Macey Ogle pitched the final 1.1 innings, allowing just two walks.
Game Two – Southern Illinois 5, Western Carolina 1
Southern Illinois scored two runs in the third and fifth innings to erase Western Carolina's 1-0 start as the Salukis claimed the four-run victory on Saturday night in Nashville.
WCU was held to just three hits as Lily Bell, Taylor Waitley, and Courtney Marks recorded base knocks. Waitley earned the lone RBI for the Catamounts.
Amanda Fulton struck out the side in the bottom of the first inning to mirror WCU's top half 1-2-3 start to get the Catamounts out to a scoreless start. Both teams stranded a runner in the second before Western Carolina (10-5) got on the board in the third. Bell reached on a two-out single, swiped second, and then scored on a Waitley run-scoring knock to give WCU a 1-0 lead.
Southern Illinois (10-9) responded with an RBI double, followed by a sacrifice fly in the bottom half of the third to jump in front 2-1. Fulton then worked around a pair of hits in the fourth with another three-strikeout frame to keep the deficit at just one.
SIU doubled its lead in the fifth with a one-out two-run blast to take a 4-1 lead into the late innings. The Salukis pushed the lead to four, 5-1, with a sixth-inning wild pitch forcing a run home before eventually claiming the four-run nonconference victory.
Fulton (4-3) suffered the loss in Saturday night's decision, going 5.0 innings and allowing eight hits and four runs in the loss. She matched her seasonal best once again with eight strikeouts. Amari Burce recorded an out with a hit and three walks allowed. Riley Pennington tallied the final two outs for WCU pitching.
Brooklyn Danielson didn't factor into the decision, tossing 3.1 innings and scattering two hits and one run allowed with five strikeouts. Hailey Lucas (2-4) pitched 3.2 shutdown innings with one hit allowed and two strikeouts to earn SIU the victory.
The Catamounts close out the Purple & Gold Classic on Sunday. WCU ends the weekend with a Noon ET first pitch against Big 10 counterpart Purdue from Draper Diamond. Purdue is 4-0 on the weekend in Nashville, outscoring its opponents 40-5. Live stats will be available through a link 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, catamountsb), or go to www.CatamountSports.com.
