No. 7 Charleston Southern used timely pitching and key hits from Stephanie Sbardella and Georgi Delio to down No. 6 Presbyterian College, 4-3 in game nine of the 2014 Big South Conference Championship presented by Musco Sports Lighting.
It was a collective effort in the circle for the Buccaneer pitching staff which worked its way out of a pair of late inning bases loaded jams. Morgan Dowdy started for the Bucs and completed 3.0 innings allowing just the one earned run and five hits before being relieved by Jennifer Giles (11-12) who earned the win tossing 2.1 innings and limiting the Blue Hose to two hits. Cheyenne Gandara entered the game in the sixth inning and picked up her second save of the season. Gandara allowed two hits, two run and struck out four in 1.2 innings
The Buccaneers (25-31-1) jumped out to a first inning lead for the second consecutive day on a Stephanie Sbardella two-out home run down the left field line. The Blue Hose answered back in the bottom of the inning with three consecutive two-out singles to tie the score at 1-1. Hope Rogers started the rally with a single through the left side and Shelby Petik singled deep in the hole to the shortstop. Kersten Legacki had the key hit, driving in Rogers with a single to right center.
Both pitching staffs controlled the middle innings allowing a combined two hits in the second through fourth innings before Charleston Southern scored one run in each fifth, sixth and seventh. Georgi Delio's home run in the fifth inning increased the Bucs lead to 2-1. In the sixth inning Charleston Southern threatened to break the game open with three consecutive one out singles from Stephanie Sbardella, Stephanie Bergmann and Stevi Johnson. The Buccaneers were only able to capitalize with a single run when Hayes Holdsworth was credited with a sacrifice fly when she flew out to right field.
Shane Winkler's club manufactured its run in the seventh without recording a hit in the inning. Natalie Yonan led off the inning with a walk and advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt by Lizzy Olmstead and scored when Amanda Matsumto's sacrifice bunt resulted in a throwing error.
Presbyterian (26-25) mounted threats in the fifth and sixth inning, loading the bases on both occasions but were unable about to push runs across in either inning. Erin Ruff started the fifth inning with a single down the right field line and advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt by Jill McLean. After Hope Rogers grounded out, Shelby Petik and Kersten Legacki walked to load the bases. However, Jennifer Giles was about to strike out Kayla Dunlap to keep the Blue Hose off the board.
In the sixth inning, Erin Taylor led off with a single down the left field line and Katie Brown walked. After Giles forced Courtney Lawton to fly out for the second out of the inning, Gandara entered the game for the Bucs and walked Erin Ruff to load the bases with just one out. For the second consecutive inning the Buccaneers worked out of a jam unscathed. First Gandara stuck out Jill McLean and then got Hope Rogers to foul out to end the inning.
The Blue Hose broke through in the seventh inning after Petik singled for the second time and Kersten Legacki hit a home run to centerfield to close the margin to 4-3. Just as it did in the previous two innings Charleston Southern pitching was able to squelch the Presbyterian rally attempt. Gandara recorded back-to-back strike outs of Jen Marshall and Jordan Ashley to close out the game and send the Buccaneers through to Saturday's semifinal matchups.
Sbardella led the Bucs at the plate with a 2-for-4 outing, two runs and one RBI, while Stephanie Bergmann also added a pair of hits. Legacki led the way for the Blue Hose going 2-for-2 and driving in all the Presbyterian runs. Sydney Seigler was credited with the loss, tossing a complete game while surrendering six hits, four runs and three earned runs.
Charleston Southern will face the winner of game ten between No. 2 Longwood and No. 5 Winthrop at 12:00pm on Saturday. Presbyterian will return at 9:30pm tonight for a meeting with No. 4 Campbell in an elimination game for both sides.
Shane Winkler, Charleston Southern
“All season long, we've been so close to breaking through. That's a game earlier in the year that we'd find a way to lose the lead, but postseason is a brand new start to a season. We continued to fight and that showed.
We put ourselves in a good position, but we can't change our focus. We haven't accomplished anything yet. Our goal was not to get to the weekend, but we want to do something big. We're going to continue to fight, stay aggressive and continue to believe.”
Kama Tucker, Presbyterian College
“Well we are disappointed, obviously, with the result. I am proud of the way that the kids fought. We just did not do a good job of timely hitting, it came down to getting key hits with runners and scoring position and we failed in the sense. We are certainly going to go to work, talk about the things that we need to do to make and adjustment and come back again ready to work.”
