WEST LIBERTY, W.Va. – The West Liberty University softball team plated an unearned run in the bottom of the 10th to pull out a thrilling 3-2 win against Concord in the second game of Saturday's Mountain East Conference doubleheader at the WLU Softball Complex.
The extra-inning triumph allowed Coach
Herb Minch's Hilltoppers (19-14, 11-5) to salvage a split of the twinbill after the Mountain Lions (20-15, 8-8) had muscled out an 8-6 decision in the opener.
Sophomore workhorse
Makenzie Amend went the distance in the circle for the complete-game win in the marathon second game. Amend struck out 10 Concord batters and didn't issue a walk while holding the visitors to just four hits over 10 innings.
West Liberty managed just three hits against Mountain Lion ace Cartney Schoolcraft but two of them were run-scoring doubles off the red-hot bat of
Allie Cook.
Amend carried a 2-0 lead and a two-hit shutout into the top of the seventh only to see Concord break through with two runs on a pair of doubles, sending the game into extra innings.
West Liberty scored the game-winner without benefit of a hit in the bottom of the 10th.
Haley Collett was placed on second to start the inning as part of the NCAA tiebreaker rules and moved up to third on a wild pitch.
The Concord catcher tried to pick Collett off third following a pitch to pinch-hitter
Charli McConnell but the throw bounced into foul territory and Collett came dashing home, scoring the game-winner when the catcher was called for obstruction.
In the first game,
Kat Donzella staked West Liberty to an early 5-4 lead with a grand-slam rocket over the center field fence in the bottom of the second but the visitors plated four runs over the final three innings to earn the win.
Donzella had laced out an RBI single in the first inning and reached base all four times as she was walked in her final two plate appearances. Cook added another double and a single and
Anna Paterson chipped in with an RBI single in the seventh.
Sunday's doubleheader against UVa-Wise has been postponed indefinitely as UVa-Wise was unable to make the trip north this weekend due to transportation problems. The Hilltoppers return to action on Wednesday with a doubleheader against Wheeling Jesuit in Wheeling.
