CONWAY, S.C. (www.bigsouthsports.com) – No. 7 Charleston Southern upset No. 2 Longwood, 5-2, in game four of the 2014 Big South Softball Championship presented by Musco Sports Lighting Thursday afternoon at Coastal Carolina University.
The Buccaneers improve to 24-31-1 overall and will face the winner of game five between No. 3 Radford and No. 6 Presbyterian College at 4:30pm tomorrow afternoon. The Lancers fall to 38-15 overall and will play the loser of game five at 11:30am.
Cheyenne Gandara (9-11) pitched a complete game in the circle for Charleston Southern limiting the potent Longwood lineup to six hits and two runs, while striking out eight. Libby Morris (16-10) started for the Lancers throwing 3.0 innings and surrendering three runs on five hits.
Charleston Southern jumped out to an early 3-0 lead as Amanda Matsumoto and Stephanie Bergman singled setting the table for Stevi Johnson who blasted a deep home run to straight away centerfield giving the Bucs a lead they would not relinquish.
Longwood closed the gap to 3-1 in the bottom of the first inning, Katie Shinrock singled through the right side to start the inning before stealing second base. On the throw down to second the ball sailed into centerfield and bounced past the centerfielder allowing Shinrock to score from first on the play.
Chelsea Sciacca led off the fourth inning for the Lancers with a single to centerfield. Jenna Carnes entered as a pinch runner for Sciacca after she advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt by Casey Lifesy. Carnes scored on a single through the right side by Carly Adams. Longwood loaded the basses with a pair of two-out singles by Jamie Barbour and Justina Augustine but were unable to push the tying run across the plate when Gandara got Taylor Hedrick to line out to short.
The Buccaneers plated two runs in the top of the sixth to push their lead to 5-2. Johnson started the inning with a single up the middle and Ari Tedesco added a bunt single. Brooke Holcomb entered the game as a pinch hitter and was intentionally walked to load the bases. Longwood relief pitcher Elizabeth McCarthy struck out pinch hitter Hayes Holdsworth and got Brandy Galaviz to pop out to first base before Matsumoto singled to left center driving in two runs.
Matsumoto led Charleston Southern offensively going 4-for-4 with two RBI and a run scored. Johnson pitched in with a 2-for-3 game and two RBI. Shinrock paced the Lancers offensively with two hits and a run scored.
Shane Winkler, Charleston Southern
“Our focus all week long has been to be aggressive and to be fearless. In the first inning our young kids came out and did exactly that. We had a hustle play by Bergmann in the first inning and then a big two-run home run by Johnson. Those are all fearless type plays, so it’s big for us to score first. Then with Cheyenne Gandara, we had kids that did amazing things for us all game long. We did what we needed to do to stay in the winner’s bracket and we’re going to take it one game at a time.”
Kathy Riley, Longwood
“I thought today was a typical matchup in a conference tournament situation. Whether you’re the No. 2 seed or the No. 7 seed, it doesn’t really matter because each team is here to play their hardest. Charleston Southern played better than we did today. They strung hits together at the right time and played hard the whole game. I felt like we made an adjustment to their pitcher after the second inning and did a pretty good job with our at-bats, giving us a chance to get people on. Our biggest problem has been the same all year. We’ve struggled to complete the play or get that big hit after we get people on base, and that’s the reason why we lost today.”
