NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- The Belmont softball team (10-13, 1-4 OVC) picked up its first Ohio Valley Conference win in dramatic fashion Saturday afternoon at Rose Park. The Bruins waged a massive comeback effort to rally in the seventh inning for an 12-11 win over visiting Southeast Missouri State (9-15, 2-2 OVC) before being edged in the nightcap, 3-1.
Game 1
Game 2
BU jumped out an early 2-0 lead but the Redhawks came storming back, adding six runs over the next four innings. Belmont began to claw back and tallied three runs in the bottom of the fifth inning to trim its deficit to one run, 6-5. The contest appeared to be over as SEMO exploded in the following inning, sending five runners of the plate but the Bruins launched one final rally attempt.
Belmont got hot when it mattered most manufacturing five runs, each one-by-one, in the bottom of the seventh to pull out the come from behind win. The comeback started with a bases-loaded single from senior Courtney Elrod (Clarksville, Tenn.) 11-8, no one out. Sophomore Heather Turner (Rosenburg, Texas) reached on a fielder's choice that got junior Mia Vierra (Palmdale, Calif.) out at second that also scored a run; 11-9, one out. With the tying run on first and the winning run at the plate, freshman Jessica Wilson (Alvin, Texas) singled to right field, scoring another run; 11-10. The Bruins tied the game with a well-executed squeeze bunt by junior Kim Johnson (Tucson, Ariz.). With the winning run on third, sophomomore Amanda Criscione (Upland, Calif.) executed the Bruins' second squeeze bunt of the inning to score the winning run, 12-11, Belmont.
Game two was the complete opposite of the first with the Redhawks never relinquishing the lead during the game. Southeast Missouri was able to keep the Bruins from scoring until the final inning of play after building a 3-0 lead by the top of the sixth.
BU nearly put together another comeback for the second time on the day in the seventh when they scored on a two-out error, narrowing the Redhawk lead to 3-1 but that would be as close as they would come.
For the day, Johnson led BU, batting .571 with four hits and three RBI. Criscione and Elrod each batted .500. Sophomore Kat Hollingsworth (Carrollton, Texas) recorded three runs to lead the team.
Inside the circle, four Bruins saw time. Freshmen Taylor Moon (Vestavia, Ala.) and Carolyn Snodgress (Torrance, Calif.) tossed 5.1 and 5.0 innings, respectively. Snodgress and junior Brittanie Albright (Franklin, Tenn.) each tallied three strikeouts. Sophomore Katie Clancy (Pasadena, Calif.) notched her first win of the season after helping to secure the come from behind win in game one.
More to come...
