No. 6 Presbyterian College Defeats No. 2 Coastal Carolina, 5-3
BUIES CREEK, N.C. (www.BigSouthSports.com) – No. 6 Presbyterian College scored runs in four consecutive innings to defeat No. 2 Coastal Carolina, 5-3, in Game 9 of the 2015 Big South Softball Championship presented by Musco Sports Lighting at Amanda Littlejohn Stadium on the campus of Campbell University. The Blue Hose (24-24) advance to Saturday’s semifinals and will play at 10:00am on ESPN3. The Chanticleers fall to 32-23 and play No. 4 Liberty in an elimination game Friday night at 9:30pm.
Coastal opened with a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first and held the advantage until the Blue Hose tied it up in the top of the third. PC took the lead in the fourth inning when Hope Rogers opened with a single and moved to second on Katie Brown’s one-out single. Blaire Miller singled to load the bases, and after Rogers was thrown out at home on the next play, Brown came around to score on a throwing error by the Coastal catcher.
PC tacked on two runs in the fifth inning when Shelby Petik singled and Erin Ruff followed with a two-run home run to put the Blue Hose ahead, 4-1. Presbyterian College added a run in the sixth, but Coastal cut the deficit in the bottom half with two runs. Kasey Oliver scored on a throwing error and Bri Chiusano later knocked home Kailey Mellen to make the score 5-3.
Kensley Loudermelk (14-9) earned the win in relief. She entered in the fourth and allowed just two unearned runs, five hits and no walks while striking out three. Petik was 3-3 at the plate while Rogers and Jill McLean added two hits. Chiusano led Coastal with three hits, with Mellen and Kory Hayden recording two hits each. Kiana Quolas suffered the loss in the circle after allowing four runs (three earned), eight hits and two walks in five innings.