ARLINGTON, Texas - Appalachian State University softball dropped game one against UT Arlington 10-2 in five innings before the Mavericks won the second contest in dramatic fashion, 8-7, in the bottom of the eighth.
The Mountaineers fell to 7-29 overall, 1-10 in the Sun Belt and UTA improved to 25-6 on the season with a 4-4 mark in league action. For the day, Pepper Butler and Tiffany Taynor each had three hits while Cara Parker, Katie Mathewson and Jenny Dodd were each responsible for a pair of base knocks.
Game One: UTA 10, App State 2 (5 Inn.)
UT Arlington scored two runs in the first inning, two in the third, three in the fourth, and three in the bottom of the fifth to win by the run rule. App State scored both of its runs in the top half of the fourth when Butler singled in Taynor and Mathewson pushed across Heather Josey with a hit to center.
Vanessa Ciocatto (5-13) pitched 2.1 innings and gave up four runs, one earned, on three hits with one walk. In relief, Claire Eosso tossed two innings before the Mavs singled in a run for the mercy rule with one out in the bottom of the fifth.
Game Two: UTA 8, App State 7
The Black and Gold opened the nightcap with their biggest first inning of the season (six runs) and added one more in the third to take a commanding 7-0 advantage. The first four runs came on a Parker grand slam and Mathewson made it back to back with a solo shot to right. Casey Brescia brought in Taynor with a single to right for run No. six and run No. seven in the third came from Maddy Bloom's RBI hit.
Parker broke an 0-for-11 skid and now leads the team in batting average (.346), hits (36), home runs (8), and RBI (36). That was just Mathewson's second bomb of the season and first since the sixth game of the year. She is currently riding a season-high three-game hitting streak.
UTA proceeded to score one run in both the fourth and sixth frames to cut the margin to five, 7-2, and that set things up for a crazy bottom of the seventh. In that inning alone, Appalachian State was responsible for two errors, the hosts scored five runs to tie it up and all five were unearned. The next inning, the leadoff batter singled, stole second and scored on a single to right center to end the game.
The starter Ciocatto (5-14) surrendered two runs, one earned, and Annaleise Kennedy gave up six with only one earned. Ciocatto re-entered the game with one out in the bottom of the seventh before the two-run triple that knotted the game up.
Next up, the Mountaineers and Mavericks will play the final game of the series on Sunday with first pitch set for 12 p.m. ET.
