Softball | 4/18/2011 12:07:47 PM
FAIRMONT, W.Va. – The West Liberty University softball battled Fairmont State to the wire twice on Sunday only to come up short in both ends of a West Virginia Conference doubleheader.
The host Falcons (15-19, 6-6) used a late rally to pull away to an 8-2 win in the first game and came from behind in the seventh inning of the nightcap before taking a 5-4 victory in 8 innings.
The Hilltoppers (9-34, 4-16) pushed across an unearned run in the top of the fifth to tie the score at 2-2 in the first game but Fairmont scratched out a single run in the bottom of the frame before breaking things open with a five-run uprising in the bottom of the sixth.
Sarah Ashmead had two singles and an RBI for the visitors while Felicia Hulslander and Katelyn Kumm also had two hits in a losing cause.
The second game was even more frustrating for West Liberty as Hulslander's two-out RBI single gave West Liberty a 4-3 lead in the top of the seventh.
Fairmont's Abbey Wilson hit a solo home run in the bottom of the seventh to send the game into extra innings and the Falcons won it with an unearned run in the bottom of the eighth.
Kelsey Martin had a home run and a single for West Liberty while Hulslander had a triple to go along with her seventh-inning RBI base knock.
The Hilltoppers return to action on Wednesday with a 3 p.m. doubleheader at Wheeling Jesuit.
SOFTBALL
Fairmont State 8, West Liberty 2
West Liberty 001 010 0 - 2 9 4
Fairmont State 200 015 x - 8 9 2
WL: Emerich lp (2SO, 1W), Miller (5) (0SO, 2W), Stanley (6) (1SO, 0W) and Sumner. Ashmead 2S, rbi; Hulslander 2S; Kumm 2S
FS: Cobb wp (4SO, 3W) and B.Williams. Tallhammer 4S, 3rbi; Cobb HR, S, 3rbi; Wilson HR, S, 2rbi
Fairmont State 5, West Liberty 4
West Liberty 111 000 10 - 4 8 3
Fairmont State 010 110 11 - 5 11 1
WL: Fortuna (1SO, 1W), Johnson (4) (0SO, 0W), Emerich lp (5) (1SO, 0W) and Burke, Sumner (7). Martin HR, S, rbi; Hulslander T, S, rbi
FS: Burgess (2SO, 4W), Nuzum wp (4) (1SO, 0W) and B.Williams. Wilson HR, 2S, rbi
