TOWSON, Md. – The Towson University softball team faced Coppin State in the final game of the Towson Tiger Invite on Sunday. A back-and-forth contest saw
Kaci Benton and
Grace Franczyk drive home the tying and winning runs respectively as Towson walked off the Eagles 5-4 in seven innings to go undefeated for the second weekend in a row and moved its winning streak to eight games.
Key Stats:
- Leah Mears and Mackenzie Gorczyca each had three hit games.
- Kaci Benton and Jada Wade both recorded multiple hits and an RBI
- Jessa Pieters made her first career start on the mound and pitched 3.0 innings allowing six hits and three earned runs.
- Chelsey Farthing pitched a scoreless inning of relief.
- Mikaela Guy earned the win after entering out of the bullpen and pitching 3.0 perfect innings with two strikeouts.
- Debra Hyde received the loss after pitching 6.2 innings for Coppin State and allowing 12 hits and five runs.
How it Happened:
- Towson starting pitcher Jessa Pieters and Coppin's starter Debra Hyde kept the game scoreless through two innings.
- After Peters' third scoreless frame, Leah Mears singled with one out in the bottom of the 3rd and with two outs Addie Ferguson hit a single of her own to give the Tigers the game's first run.
- The Eagles responded with a four-run 4th to put Towson in a three-run hole with three innings to go.
- The Tigers hit back-to-back one out singles in the home half of the 4th bringing up Jada Wade who picked up her second RBI in as many starts with another base knock.
- Mikaela Guy entered to pitch in the top of the fifth and faced the minimum over the next two innings.
- Mackenzie Gorczyca's third hit of the game followed by Wade's second put runners on the corners, before a wild pitch brought a Tiger run home cutting the deficit to 4-3 entering the 7th.
- After another 1-2-3 inning from Guy, Leah Mears led off the bottom of the 7th with her third single of the day, and Kaci Benton doubled her home to tie the game. A sacrifice fly brought up Grace Franczyk whose line drive to centerfield was caught but allowed Benton to score the walkoff run and delivered a 5-4 comeback win to Towson.
Up Next:
The Tigers are right back in action at Tiger Softball Stadium on Tuesday, March 10. Towson will host Delaware State at 2 p.m. in its first of two midweek games next week.