ATHENS, Ga. – The App State Softball pitchers struck out 13 hitters across two games on Saturday at the Georgia Classic, helping lead to a split on day 2. App State downed Buffalo 3-1 on the back of a strong start by
Sophie Moshos to open the day before falling 6-1 against Utah Valley in the nightcap. App State (3-10) is now 2-2 through two days at the 22nd Annual Georgia Classic.
Moshos and
Ava Beamesderfer combined to allow just one run against the Bulls (1-8) in the opening game and struck out seven hitters. Moshos carried a perfect game into the fifth inning and a no-hitter into the sixth, while allowing just one run in 6.1 innings. Beamesderfer finished the job in the seventh by stranding the tying run on second base and recorded her first career save against the Bulls to win the contest.
App State's bats drove home four runs and tallied nine hits across the day. The Mountaineers were led offensively by
Macy Hamby, who tallied three hits and drove home two runs.
Taylor Chumbley stayed hot by driving in her fifth run of the weekend against the Bulls and
Makayla McClain smoked a solo home run in the nightcap against Utah Valley (4-10). McClain's home run was the team's fourth home run of the weekend.
Grace Barrett tallied her sixth multi-hit game of the season against the Wolverines with two hits to move her season total to 17. Additionally,
Jaylee Williams struck for a double against Buffalo while
Julia Girk reached base twice and scored the game-winning run in the opening game.
How it Happened
Game 1: App State 3, Buffalo 1
Taking the field first as the home team on the scoreboard, Moshos took to the circle and sat down the Bulls in order to open the game. A dueling zero in the bottom half kept the score scoreless after a full inning and Moshos tallied her first of six strikeouts in the second, helping her retire the first six batters she saw.
App State tallied the game's first hit in the bottom of the second as Hamby shot a single down the third-base line for her first hit of the day. Hamby moved into scoring position thanks to a sacrifice bunt by Williams, but the Bulls retired the side to keep the game at zeros after two.
Moshos took to the circle for her third inning and posted another perfect frame with two more strikeouts. Girk walked to put a Mountaineer on base in their half of the third, but she was caught stealing for the second out and a strikeout ended the inning.
Another perfect inning by both sides quickly sent action to the fifth inning, which saw the Bulls record their first baserunner of the game against Moshos. Still with the no-hitter intact, the lefty settled back in and forced a fielder's choice before striking out the next two hitters to retire the side.
Williams' double in the bottom of the fifth gave the Mountaineers a scoring chance, but she couldn't advance past second base. Moshos struck out her sixth and final batter in the top of the sixth inning but surrendered the first hit of her start with two outs, ending her no-hit bid. App State closed the sixth inning with another zero, sending the bats to the plate with a chance to go ahead.
The Mountaineers did just that, scoring three times in the sixth to take a late lead. Girk started the inning with a walk and then McClain put the ball in play and reached base on a throwing error by the catcher. The error allowed Girk to race all the way around from first base to score, which marked the game's first run.
Buffalo sat down the next two hitters, but with McClain on second, Hamby delivered her home with a double, which was her second hit of the contest. Chumbley followed Hamby's double with an RBI single to plate the Mountaineers' second run. Chumbley's RBI hit was her fifth RBI of the weekend. The Bulls retired the next hitter to end the inning, but the Mountaineers struck for three runs to take a lead into the final inning.
Looking to finish what she started, Moshos sat down the first hitter via a flyout, but the Bulls ended Moshos' shutout bid with three consecutive hits to score their first run. Head coach Whitney Jones turned to Beamesderfer with two runners in scoring position. The sophomore quickly sat down Buffalo as she forced a groundout and struck out the final hitter, securing a 3-1 win over Buffalo. It was Beamesderfer's first career save.
Game 1 Notes
Home runs
App: N/A
UB: N/A
WP –
Sophie Moshos (2-4): 6.1 IP, 4 hits, 1 run, 1 walk, 6 strikeouts
SV –
Ava Beamesderfer (1)
LP – Genevieve Longsdorf (0-2): 6 IP, 4 hits, 3 runs (0 earned runs), 2 walks, 5 strikeouts
Game 2: App State 1, Utah Valley 6
Sejal Neas, the Mountaineers' game 2 starter, posted three consecutive scoreless innings to open her day, but the Wolverines scored six runs in the fourth inning to take a six-run lead into the later stages. McClain's fifth-inning home run trimmed the deficit, but Utah Valley overcame it and won 6-1 in the nightcap.
App State started the game on offense against the Wolverines and saw Barrett and Hamby walk to put runners on base, but Utah Valley didn't let them score. In the bottom half, Neas made quick work of the Wolverine bats, picking up her first strikeout in the process.
Another walk to
Madison McIntyre spelled another baserunner for App State in the second, but nothing came of the free pass and play moved to the bottom of the second still scoreless. Neas recorded another perfect inning, forcing three weakly hit balls to retire the side.
McClain led off the third inning by reaching base on an error by the second baseman and Barrett followed her with a single through the left side to put runners on the corners. With their best scoring chance of the day, the Mountaineers sent Gore up to the plate who deposited a flyball into left field that was caught for the first out. Trying to tag up on the play, McClain was thrown at the plate to mark a double play. A strikeout ended the chance and play moved to the bottom of the third still scoreless.
Neas recorded punchout No. 2 of her start and worked around a single to post another shutout frame. Chumbley kept up her hot streak in game 2 as she led off the fourth with a double to put a runner in scoring position. A sacrifice bunt moved her to third, but the Wolverines struck out the next two hitters to retire the side and strand the runner.
Utah Valley sent 11 hitters to the plate in the fourth and scored six runs to take the lead. Four straight singles to lead off the inning helped score two before a fielder's choice and a wild pitch brought home two more. A two-RBI single by Britney Moreno delivered home the sixth and final runs of the inning before a flyout ended the fray.
The Mountaineers answered the Wolverines' big inning with a run of their own in the sixth. After a strikeout for the first out, McClain took a 2-2 pitch and smoked a homer over the left-field wall to plate App State's first run. It was McClain's second home run of the season. Barrett and Hamby followed the long ball with a pair of singles, but the Mountaineers couldn't strike for more. After five, the Wolverines led by five.
Moshos, who came on in relief during the fourth inning, posted back-to-back perfect frames in the fifth and sixth innings to keep the score 6-1 into the seventh. But the Mountaineers couldn't put a runner on base and dropped the nightcap 6-1 to Utah Valley.
Game 2 Notes
Home runs
App: McClain (2)
UVU: N/A
WP – Avery Sapp (3-4): 7 IP, 5 hits, 1 run, 3 walks, 7 strikeouts
SV – N/A
LP –
Sejal Neas (0-2): 3 IP, 5 hits, 5 runs (4 earned runs), 0 walks, 3 strikeouts
Up Next
The Mountaineers will conclude play at the Georgia Classic Sunday morning with their first meeting with the Syracuse Orange in program history. The Orange will be the Mountaineers' second Power Four opponent of the weekend. First pitch from Jack Turner Softball Stadium is scheduled for 10:30 a.m.
