ELIZABETH CITY, N.C. – The Chowan Softball team salvaged the final day of the CIAA Round Up with a win over Shaw after falling to Claflin and Winston-Salem State.
THE BASICS
FINAL GAME ONE | Chowan 8, Claflin 17 (5 innings)
FINAL GAME TWO | Chowan 3, Winston-Salem 6
FINAL GAME THREE | Chowan 9, Shaw 0 (5 innings)
RECORDS | Chowan 6-17 (5-2), Claflin 18-12 (7-0), Winston-Salem State 15-3 (6-0), Shaw 1-7 (1-5)
LOCATION | Elizabeth City, N.C. (South Park Complex)
INSIDE THE BOXSCORES
Haley Cooper led the charge at the plate going 4-6 with a home run, three walks and two hit by pitches. Beth Walker picked up three hits and three RBI. Donya Salman recorded her first career home run in the loss to Winston-Salem State. Lindsey Stigler hit a solo home run.
Leah Spiggle went 2-2 with two doubles and two RBI. Serena Riley went 1-1 in her only plate appearance.
EmaRae Flores went 1-1 in the circle on the day. Flores picked up the win against Shaw tossing four innings allowing two hits.
HOW IT HAPPENED
Game One: Chowan 8, Claflin 17 – 5 innings
Claflin posted the first run on the board in the top of the first inning with two hits and a ground out to lead 1-0.
Chowan countered with four runs in the bottom of the inning to lead 4-1. Haley Cooper started off the rally with a walk. Beth Walker and Brittany Parson singled before Lindsey Stigler evened the score with a RBI single. Stigler and Parson moved up a base on a wild pitch before Miranda Glover produced a sac bunt to plate Parson. EmaRae Flores singled to score Stigler to push the lead to 4-1.
The Panthers took advantage of a couple of miscues by the Hawks to score 10 runs in the top of the second inning coupled with seven hits to lead 11-4.
Claflin added four more runs in the third inning on two more errors to lead 15-4. The Panthers used a home run to lead 17-4 going to the fifth inning.
Lindsey Stigler hit a solo home run to start a rally in the bottom of the fifth. Miranda Glover and Carleigh Wildeboer doubled to keep the inning moving. Leah Spiggle picked up a double before Beth Walker singled home a pair to cut into the deficit 17-8. The Hawks were unable to trim into the deficit to take their first loss in CIAA play since April 21, 2017.
Game Two: Chowan 3, Winston-Salem State 6
Winston-Salem did their damage in the bottom of the first inning as a grand slam opened the scoring. The Rams led 5-0 after one inning.
Hannah Naifeh picked up the first hit in the third inning for the Hawks. Haley Cooper drew a walk before Beth Walker singled to score Naifeh to cut into the lead 5-1.
Chowan cut into the deficit in the fifth inning with a pair of runs. Shannon Buchanan reached on an infield single. Donya Salman hit a two run home run to cut the deficit to 5-3.
WSSU added a run in the sixth inning to stretch the lead to 6-3. The Hawks were unable to trim into the deficit in the seventh.
Game Three: Chowan 9, Shaw 0 (five innings)
Shaw picked up both of their hits in the opening frame but two strikeouts in the inning ended the threat.
Haley Cooper started off the inning with a single and moved up on Beth Walker's walk. Jesse Gentry hit a fly ball to move Cooper to third. EmaRae Flores and Brooklynne Johnson posted RBI singles to lead 2-0.
Haley Cooper extended the lead with a home run to center in the second inning.
EmaRae Flores kept the Bears off the bags for the remainder of the contest.
Chowan did the rest of the damage in the fourth inning as Kelsey Sonntag reached on an error. Kerrin Mailhot and Lindsee Howard singled to load the bases. Haley Cooper was hit by a pitch to plate a run. Leah Spiggle doubled down the left field line to plate two runs as Cooper was thrown out at the plate. Jesse Gentry drew a walk before Serena Riley singled to load the bases again. Meredith Morgan doubled to plate two more runs. Sonntag and Mailhot drew a walk to load the bases and plate a run.
UP NEXT
Chowan hits the road to take on West Chester and Holy Family on March 23-24. First pitch against the Golden Rams is at 1pm.
