The Cleveland State softball team split a doubleheader with Gadsden State on Saturday, February 8 losing the first game of the home opener 17-7 and winning the nightcap 5-4.
Four out of the five winning runs by the Cougars in game two came off a solo homerun by Lilly Griffitts and a three-run shot by Layla Pettigrew. Kalie Weaver won her first game of the season tossing a complete game.
In game one, Cleveland State came back from a 5-3 deficit scoring three in the 5th inning for a one run lead only to have Gadsden explode for eight runs in their have of the sixth leading to the Cougar loss.
Game One Recap
The Cougar bats were alive in game one as they banged out 14 hits and led the game 3-1 after
the first inning.
Ava Layne, Layla Pettigrew and Heidi Johnson each drove in one run in the first as
they plated Carissa Montgomery, Griffitts and Desiree Nance who each singled.
Gadsden came back with four in the second to take a lead of 5-3 that would hold until Cleveland
State answered with another three in the fifth to take a 6-5 lead. Heidi Johnson belted a homerun
while Griffitts singled home Taylor Hancock and Skye Eddington who walked.
For the Cougars that was it as Gadsden's onslaught of eight runs in the sixth gave them a final
winning score of 17-7.
Cleveland State's 14 hit attack included three hits off the bat of Griffitts, two each from Montgomery, Pettigrew and Johnson. Layne and Hancock rounded out the hits with one hit each.
Game Two Recap
Gadsden started the scoring in the first with two runs but were answered back when Griffitts slugged her first homerun of the season for a 2-1 Gadsden lead. Then in the sixth inning Montgomery led off with a single followed by a Nance double and an RBI single by Layne to knot the score at two. Pettigrew then stepped to the plate and with a 1-1 count launched a three-run moon shot over the left field fence giving Cleveland State a 5-2 lead.
In the top of the seventh inning Gadsden made it interesting scoring two runs before Nance fielded and stepped on the third base bag for a force out to end the game.
Weaver winning her first game is 1-1 on the season while the Cougars as a team stand at 1-3.
Johnson had two hits on the game while Montgomery, Griffitts, Nance, Layne, Pettigrew and Hancock each had one.
The Cougars scheduled road doubleheader contest vs Georgia Highlands on Tuesday February 11
has already been postponed due to an inclement weather forecast.