GREENEVILLE, Tenn. --- Ashley Basilicato went
3-for-6 on the day with a pair of doubles and a home run as the
Tusculum softball team split a South Atlantic Conference
doubleheader over Catawba Saturday afternoon at Red Edmonds Field.
Tusculum won the opener 4-3, while Catawba rebounded in the second
game, winning 8-0 in six innings.
Game 1: Tusculum 4, Catawba 3
Lynnsey Jett singled home the winning run in the fourth inning as
the Pioneers posted a 4-3 win over the Lady Indians. Tusculum made
the most of its five hits in the game and Megan DuBois recorded a
complete-game effort to improve her record to 3-4.
Tusculum jumped out to a 3-0 lead thanks to Basilicato's three-run
homer in the first inning, scoring Rachel Wilburn and Jess
Greer.
Catawba tied the game with a run in the second and two more in the
third inning. In the second, Ryann Baker scored when she tripled
and crossed the plate on a throwing error on the play. In the third
frame, Allie Marshall came through with a two-run double to knot
the game at 3-3.
Tusculum regained its advantage in the fourth when Shanda
Kimbrough singled and moved to second on a throwing error. Another
Catawba error placed runners on the corners with one out when Jett
singled home Kimbrough and a 4-3 TC lead.
Catawba would try to answer in the fifth as the first two batters
would reach with Marshall drawing a walk and Sarah VanBuskirk
getting a single. DuBois would get out of the jam with a fly out
and a pair of ground outs to end the inning. She would allow one
base runner for the rest of the game to seal the victory for the
Pioneers.
Wilburn went 2-for-3 in the game for the Pioneers, while Cassie
Markham accounted for a 3-for-4 performance for Catawba.
Game 2: Catawba 8, Tusculum 0 (6 innings)
Catawba's Rachel Christian tossed a three-hit shutout as the Lady
Indians recorded 16 hits en route to an 8-0 win in the night-cap in
six innings.
Christian improves to 5-6 on the season, while Tusculum starter
Holli Cadenhead falls to 5-6 on the year.
Marshall led the Catawba hit-parade with three hits, including a
double, while Jessie Whitesides, MacKenzie White, Jacqueline White
and VanBuskirk each had multi-hit games for the visitors. Kathryn
Geouge accounted for a two-run homer in the fourth to move Catawba
out to a 4-0 advantage.
Tusculum returns to action on Sunday when the Pioneers travel to
Newberry for a 2 p.m. single-game. TC and Newberry are completing
the second half of a league doubleheader, which was halted in the
first inning of the second game. Catawba returns home on Sunday
when it hosts No. 9 Georgia College & State University for a 2
p.m. doubleheader.
- TC -