Elon Edges Charleston 1-0 To Stay Alive in CAA Softball Championship
Elon Edges Charleston 1-0 To Stay Alive in CAA Softball Championship
Isely Duggins was terrific in the circle, throwing a complete-game, three-hit shutout to secure the win for Elon.
Fourth-seeded Elon edged fifth-seeded Charleston 1-0 in game six of the CAA Softball Championship presented by Primis and lives to play another game.
Elon moves to 29-21 this season and will turn around to play top-seeded Delaware in an elimination game at 3:25 p.m. Charleston concludes the season 15-37 after the setback and is eliminated from the conference tournament.
Isely Duggins (5-6) was terrific in the circle, throwing a complete-game, three-hit shutout to secure the win for Elon, and Carli McCants was equally impressive for the Cougars, tossing 6.0 innings, scattering five hits and allowing just the one earned run.
After four and a half innings of scoreless softball, Elon scored the first and only run on a Megan Grant RBI double as the Phoenix took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the fifth. Megan White led off the inning with a single, marking the fifth straight Elon batter to reach. Drew Menscer traded places with White on a fielder’s choice and scored from first on the Grant double.
Charleston had runners on in the sixth and seventh but was unable to scratch anything across. In the sixth, Noel Dominguez reached on a lead-off single and moved to second on a sac bunt from Aniz Roman. However, Dominguez was stranded at second after Kayla Gutierrez was called out for contacting the ball out of the batter’s box, and Natalie Windam popped out to the shortstop.
Jenna Helberg drew a one-out walk in the seventh but during the ensuing Rebecca Murray fielded a blooper in centerfield and fired to second to get the second out on an 8-6 fielder’s choice. Shealyn Starks proceeded to lineout to the shortstop, ending the game.
Charleston had runners in scoring position each of the first four innings, while Elon had its leadoff reach the first four, but neither team was able to scratch across a run.
Menscer paced Elon in the batter’s box, going 2-for-3 and scoring the lone run. For Charleston, Dominguez was 1-for-2 with a walk and ended the season on an 11-game hit streak.