BUIES CREEK, N.C. - Junior Vanessa Ciocatto pitched her second complete game of the season to lead Appalachian State University softball past Marshall for the first time in program history (0-5 prior) Friday afternoon, downing the Thundering Herd, 4-3.
"This was a great way to start off our weekend," said head coach Janice Savage. "Vanessa threw a great game and we scraped together the runs we needed to come from behind."
The Mountaineers improved to 3-13 overall while Marshall dropped their sixth-straight contest, falling to 6-7 on the season. Ciocatto (2-6) went the distance and gave up three runs, only one earned, on one hit with four walks and three strikeouts. The junior hurler's no-hitter was broken up with one out in the bottom of the fifth. Ciocatto's ERA is now down to 4.37, the lowest it's been since after the first game of the season.
Savage continued, "That's the best seven innings I've seen Vanessa throw in her college career and it was a great step for her. All the pitchers were pushed hard in workouts earlier this week and it's good to see that hard work pay off for her today against a strong Marshall team. Now we just have to continue this momentum tomorrow."
Marshall opened the scoring with two runs in the bottom of the second, but both crossed the plate thanks to three App State errors and with two outs already recorded. The Thundering Herd's Lucas reached on a fielding error by Megan Walker before Meyer reached on an error by Natalie Orcutt to score Lucas. Later, there were runners on second and third for the batter, Marshall, who reached on an error by Tiffany Taynor and pinch-runner Colliflower scored, but Escareno was thrown out at home by Cara Parker to end the threat.
The Black and Gold scored all four of their runs in the top of the fifth to go up 4-2. Walker and Orcutt opened things up with back-to-back singles. Taynor then singled as well and during the play, both Walker and Orcutt came in to score on a pair of errors by the first baseman. Those two errors moved Taynor to third before Heather Josey walked and Jenny Dodd brought them both in with a double.
Marshall got one back in the home half with a solo home run to left center off the bat of Escareno and that was the first hit Ciocatto had given up all game. In the bottom of the seventh, the Thundering Herd put runners on first and second with two outs, but Ciocatto struck out the pinch hitter, Woodrum, for the all-important 21st out.
Appalachian State continues play in the Camel Stampede with a doubleheader on Saturday against Loyola-Chicago (10 a.m.) and homestanding Campbell (12:30 p.m.).
