HARRISONBURG, Va. – In what turned out to be a slugfest on Saturday in Harrisonburg, the App State Softball team erupted for nine runs across the first three innings of the contest and scored four more times in the final two innings to run-rule the James Madison Dukes for the second straight game, winning 13-5 in six innings. The Mountaineers hit two more homers and tallied a season-best 14 hits to slug their way to a series win.
App State's (12-20, 3-5 SBC) 13 runs scored on Saturday marked the first time that the Mountaineers have scored 13 or more runs against a Sun Belt opponent since scoring 19 runs against the Troy Trojans on March 19, 2016. Through two games of the series against the Dukes (11-19, 0-8 SBC), the Mountaineers own a +16 advantage in the run column and have scored 32 runs over the last four games (8.0 runs per game).
The top of the App State order posted another solid game against the Dukes, as the quartet of
Makayla McClain,
Macy Hamby,
Grace Barrett and
Leah Gore combined to go 9-17 with two homers, nine RBI and six runs. McClain tallied a career-best five RBI on a two-run single and a three-run homer while falling a triple short of the cycle. Gore drove home three runs and hit her team-leading seventh home run of the season in the fifth frame.
In addition to the strong showing at the top of the lineup, the bottom of the order helped App State complete a blowout win as
Taylor Chumbley and
Julia Girk each drove home a run on a hit, making it five Mountaineers with a run driven in on Saturday.
Madison McIntyre also recorded a hit, and
Marti Henkel reached base twice, once via a walk and the other via a base hit into left. Overall, eight of the nine Mountaineer starters recorded at least one hit against James Madison.
How it Happened
Hamby started App State's day at the dish by shooting a long single to the right-field wall, marking her third hit of the series. App State couldn't advance her past second, but
Sejal Neas, App State's game 2 starter, threw up a zero in the bottom half of the inning to keep the score at zero through a full inning.
App State struck first in the top of the second inning, scoring twice on a single hit. The patience by the Mountaineer order paid dividends in the second as the team drew three walks to load the bases with two outs.
Summer Simpson's walk after being down 0-2 helped load the bases, and then McClain laced a two-run single into left field to score Henkel and Chumbley. The Dukes forced a popout to end the inning, but for the second straight game, App State had struck first.
Neas responded to the run-scoring inning by posting a perfect bottom of the second to keep App State's two-run advantage intact. Boosted by their defense, the Mountaineers tallied a seven-run top of the third to blow open the contest and take a nine-run lead after three.
The inning started with a walk to Gore before McIntyre and Henkel recorded a base hit to load the bases for the second straight inning. With one out, Chumbley sent a single into right field to plate the Mountaineers' third run, and then Girk scorched an RBI hit into right field to make it 4-0. A wild pitch quickly made it 5-0 before McClain stepped to the plate and slugged her third homer of the series high over the left-field wall to boost the Mountaineers' advantage to eight.
Not done yet, App State saw three more hits plate another run as Hamby, Barrett and Gore each recorded singles to make it 9-0 before the final out was recorded in the third. App State sent 12 hitters to the plate and scorched eight hits to score seven times in the third frame.
JMU answered in its half of the third inning with three runs on two homers to cut the App State lead to six. It was the first time James Madison scored in the series. The Dukes tallied a scoreless top of the fourth on defense and struck for two more in the fourth to make it 9-5 after four.
Suddenly seeing their lead shrink to four, App State needed to answer. It did just that as the Mountaineers scored three more times in the fifth inning to put them over 10 runs, which made it a seven-run game. McClain's third hit of the day, a double, started the action, and then Barrett tallied a single that scored Gore, which was the team's 10th run of the game. A batter later, Gore struck again with her seventh homer of the season to make it 12-5 in favor of App State. The Dukes finally retired the side, but the Mountaineers led by seven heading into the bottom of the fifth.
Sophie Moshos, who came into the game in the third inning, posted a perfect frame to help bring the App State bats back up to bat. App State scored again in the sixth, playing small ball to do so, which put it up eight. Moshos closed out the contest in convincing fashion, retiring the Dukes on just 10 pitches to seal a series win for the Mountaineers in Harrisonburg. It marks the first time App State has won a series against the Dukes in program history.
Saturday Notes
Home runs
App: McClain (7), Gore (7)
JMU: List (9), Hennessy (1)
WP:
Sophie Moshos (8-6): 3.2 IP, 2 hits, 2 runs, 1 walk, 2 strikeouts
SV: N/A
LP: Rebecca Muh (1-1): 2.1 IP, 4 hits, 5 runs, 4 walks, 0 strikeouts
Up Next
App State will go for the series sweep over James Madison on Sunday in the series finale from Bank of the James Field at Veterans Memorial Park. First pitch of the finale is slated for 1 p.m., and the game can be streamed on ESPN+.
