BUCKHANNON — West Virginia Wesleyan battled through a Sunday doubleheader against the University of Charleston, but the Golden Eagles came away with both ends of the twinbill, taking Game 1 by an 8-0 score in five innings before outlasting the Lady Bobcats 10-6 in eight innings in Game 2.
In Game 1, Charleston struck first in the opening inning. Taylor Hodson singled and later scored on a sacrifice fly by Caraline Dunn, giving the Golden Eagles a 1-0 lead. Wesleyan threatened in the bottom half when Jaelyn Riley singled, stole second and moved within 60 feet of scoring, but Charleston escaped the jam to keep the Lady Bobcats off the board.
The game remained tight through three innings as Morgan Greene kept Wesleyan within striking distance, but Charleston broke it open in the fourth with a seven-run frame. Emma Smith delivered the big blow with a three-run double, Dunn later drew an RBI walk, and Maddie Entler followed with a two-run double as the Golden Eagles stretched the margin to 8-0. Charleston finished with 10 hits in the opener, including three from Ella Zucchero and two RBIs from Entler, while Smith drove in three runs.
Wesleyan managed two hits in the first game, one each from Riley and Lynzee Hague. Josi Fix also reached on a walk after moving from first base to the pitching circle in relief, and the Bobcats got 1.1 scoreless innings from Fix to settle things down late. Mass tossed all five innings for Charleston, allowing just two hits while striking out three.
In the second game, Charleston jumped in front immediately with two runs in the first, then added another in the third to build a 3-0 edge. Kayla Moran drove in the first run with an RBI double, and Danielle Pici added an RBI groundout in the opening inning. Moran later scored in the third after walking and moving around the bases on wild pitches and a stolen base sequence.
Wesleyan finally broke through in the fifth when Madison Austra launched a solo home run to trim the deficit to 3-1. Charleston answered in the sixth on Emma Smith’s two-run homer, pushing the lead back to 5-1 and putting the Golden Eagles in control again.
But the Lady Bobcats produced their best inning of the day in the bottom of the sixth. Ella Fournier started the rally with a walk, Riley followed with a single, and Hague singled home a run. With two aboard, Fix crushed a three-run home run to tie the score at 5-5. Later in the inning, Giana DeSpirito delivered an RBI single and Wesleyan suddenly had a 6-5 lead after scoring five times on six hits.
Charleston responded right away in the seventh when Hodson hit a solo homer to even the score at 6-6, setting up extra innings. In the eighth, the Golden Eagles capitalized again. Ella Zucchero ripped a two-run double, Moran followed with an RBI double, and Pici added an RBI single as Charleston plated four runs to regain control at 10-6. Wesleyan was retired in order in the bottom of the eighth.
Fix led Wesleyan offensively in Game 2, going 2-for-4 with a double, a home run and three RBIs. Austra also had a strong game, finishing 2-for-4 with a homer and an RBI, while Riley went 2-for-4 and Hague added an RBI hit. DeSpirito chipped in a run-scoring single during the sixth-inning rally, and Gracey Arnold collected a hit and a walk.
Charleston finished with 11 hits in the second game and got multi-hit efforts from Zucchero, Hodson and Moran. Moran had three hits and two RBIs, Zucchero scored twice and drove in two, and Smith added two RBIs on her sixth-inning homer. Hodson’s seventh-inning home run helped Charleston erase Wesleyan’s brief lead.
In the circle, Avery Orille started Game 2 for Wesleyan and worked four innings, allowing three runs, two earned, with two strikeouts. Mackenzie O’Brien took over in the fifth and was charged with the loss after 3.2 innings of work, while Fix recorded the final out in the top of the eighth before returning to hit in the bottom half. Charleston used three pitchers in the nightcap, with Addison Mass earning the win in relief after covering the final 2.2 innings.
