Cougar Softball Starts Conference Play with Wins vs Dyersburg State
With a home doubleheader win vs Dyersburg State on Saturday March 4 Cleveland State starts conference play with wins of 5-4 and 5-3 coming from a four run deficit in game one while never trailing in game two. Bailee Phillips went the distance to start the day for third win of the season while Hadley Burnette won her fourth game going seven to finish the doubleheader.
Game One Recap
Down 4-0 going into the fifth inning Cleveland State scored one as Taylor Hancock led off with a double and was worked around the bases to eventually score and a fielders choice off the bat of Carlynn Atamaniuk.
Then in the sixth the Cougars plated four runs as Ally Starnes hit a three-run homerun behind singles from Shelby Sullivan and Kristen Fowler with Hope Ingle driving in the winning run with a single plating Hancock who had been hit by a pitch.
In winning her third game 5-4, Phillips held Dyersburg scoreless from the fourth inning on only giving seven hits on the game. The Cougars had 10 hits, three by Ingle, two each from Sullivan and Fowler with Ally Starnes, Hancock and Lexi Vogel each going for one.
Game Two Recap
Cleveland State started the scoring in the second game with a bang as Sullivan led off the second inning with a solo homerun for a quick 1-0 lead. In their half of the third Dyersburg tied the score at one only to have the Cougars answer back with three more on an Ingle single who was driven home with a single by Abby Young who was plated by a double from Sullivan who then scored on a single from Emily Higgins giving the Cougars a 4-1 lead.
Dyersburg cut into the lead in the fourth scoring two to make it 4-3 but again the Cougars answered back scoring one for the final 5-3 score as Ally Starnes reach on an error and came around to score on a wild pitch.
Burnette in winning her fourth game gave up five hits and induced a groundout double play to end the game as Cleveland State used an efficient seven hits on the game for the win. Sullivan had two hits while one each came off the bats of Ingle, Young, Higgins, Ally Starnes and Vogel.
Cleveland State with an overall record of 7-5 and conference mark of 2-0 will be back at it with Dyersburg finishing the four-game series on Sunday March 5 with game start times of 11:00 a.m. and 1:00 p.m. Cougar home games are played on the campus of Cleveland State at the Cougar Softball Field. Admission for the general public is $8 per person. There is no charge for Cleveland State students.
