CONWAY, S.C. - Appalachian State University continued its play in South Carolina on Saturday with day two of Coastal Carolina's Kickin' Chicken Classic. The Mountaineers lost both games by scores of 11-1 against Towson in six innings and 14-8 vs. Seton Hall.
The Black and Gold fell to 0-9 and on the other side, the Tigers sat at 6-2 with a Saturday split while the Pirates were 6-2 heading into tonight's game with Cleveland State.
Individually, Jenny Dodd had yet another great day at the dish. Dodd went 4-of-7 with two runs scored, a double, her first two career home runs (both in game two), and three RBI. She became the first Mountaineer to hit two home runs in a game since Cara Parker did so on April 29, 2015 against ETSU and is the first freshman to accomplish the feat since Parker did it on May 4, 2014 at Furman.
This season, the freshman catcher leads the team in hits with 10, is first on the squad in batting average at .385 (10-of-26) and has had three multi-hit games.
Game One: Towson 11, App State 1 (6 Inn.)
Towson's offense was simply too much to handle in game one as the Tigers scored two in the first, one in the fourth, three in the fifth, and five in the sixth. Appalachian's lone run came in the bottom of the fifth when Dodd singled in Megan Walker.
Vanessa Ciocatto (0-4) was handed the loss after she lasted just one-third of an inning and gave up two earned runs on two hits with a walk. In relief, Katherine Johnson tossed 3.1 innings and Annaleise Kennedy followed with 2.1 innings of work.
Game Two: Seton Hall 14, App State 8
Game two lasted three hours and saw a combined 26 hits, 22 runs, 18 runners left on base, five home runs, and four errors. Seton Hall was already ahead 7-0 after one and a half innings before things began to click offensively for the Apps.
In the bottom of the second, the Black and Gold put up a three spot thanks to an RBI single from Heather Josey, a sacrifice fly from Maddy Bloom and an RBI single by Natalie Orcutt. The Pirates scored four in the top of the third to go up 11-3, but Appalachian State wasn't done yet.
In the bottom of the third, Dodd hit a solo home run to right and Pepper Butler brought in a pair of runs with a double to right-center field. That barrage cut the deficit back to five at 11-6 before App State scored another run in the next inning to make it 11-7. That run scored on Dodd's second home run of the game, a blast to right center.
However, Seton Hall scored one in the sixth and two in the seventh to make it 14-7 and the Apps only countered with one run in the bottom of the seventh to make the final score 14-8.
Katie Williford fell to 0-3 with two-thirds of an inning pitched while Claire Eosso lasted two innings and Kennedy took care of the final 4.1 frames.
Appalachian will play its final game of the Kickin' Chicken Classic on Sunday with another 9:30 a.m. first pitch against Seton Hall.
