Cleveland State finished the four game series vs Motlow State on Monday March 27 winning a doubleheader 7-3 and 10-1 giving them the series win three games to one. Bailee Phillips took the game one win giving her nine wins on the season while Hadley Burnette was a winner in the nightcap putting her at 11 wins for the year.
With a conference record of 14-1 the Cougars remain in second place. Their overall season mark is 23-6.
Game One Recap… Monday March 27
With single runs in the second, third and fourth inning Cleveland State was knotted at three all with Motlow until they broke out scoring four in the sixth inning leading to the 7-3 win.
Cleveland State started the scoring in the second as Shelby Sullivan led off with a single and eventually came around to score on a single by Ally Starnes. In the third Sullivan drove home Abby Starnes who had reached on a fielder's choice giving the Cougars a 2-0 lead. Motlow State took a short lived one run lead scoring three runs in their half of the third as Hope Ingle tripled plating Taylor Hancock who had led off the fourth inning with a single for a three three tie.
In the sixth the Cougars put the game out of reach scoring four runs with Ingle hitting a single driving home Hancock who had singled and Lexi Vogel who had been hit by a pitch. Sullivan lashed two run RBI single driving home Ingle and Carlynn Atamaniuk who had walked.
The Cougars supported winning pitcher Bailee Phillips who struck out nine with twelve hits on the game with Ingle and Sullivan each with three while Kristen Fowler and Hancock had two hits each. Emily Higgins and Ally Starnes rounded out the hitting with one each.
Game Two Recap… Monday March 27
Ingle started the scoring quick in game two launching a homerun over the center field fence for a 1-0 lead as the Cougars would never look back. Abby Starnes who reach on a fielders choice and Higgins who singled came home on a triple off the bat of Fowler who in turn scored on a triple from Ally Starnes putting Cleveland State up by four.
The Cougar scored single runs in the fourth and sixth the first on an error and the second on back-to-back doubles from Vogel and Ingle. In the seventh Sullivan led off with a single and scored on an Ally Starnes ground out while Vogel had an RBI single driving home Higgins who had walked. Ingle doubled finishing the scoring with two more RBI's giving her four on the game.
In winning her 11th Burnette gave up one run on five hits while striking out four while the Cougars totaled 14 hits on the game. Ingle had three more hits giving her six on the day while Sullivan, Higgins, Fowler, Ally Starnes and Vogel had two each and Atamaniuk had one in the 10-1 win.
What's Next
Conference games continue as the Cougars are scheduled to travel to Chattanooga State on Friday March 31 and Saturday April 1 for a four game series vs the Tigers. Doubleheader game times are set on Friday at 2:00 and 4:00 p.m. EST and on Saturday at 12:00 and 2:00 p.m. EST. Currently Chattanooga is 11-5 in conference play with an overall record of 26-7.
