Concord Softball Opens Season with Sweep of Fayetteville - Beckley, Bluefield & Lewisburg News, Weather, Sports

The Concord University softball team started its season in strong fashion Sunday afternoon with a doubleheader sweep at Fayetteville State. The Mountain Lions came back from early deficits in both games to win 8-4 and 4-3.

Sophomores Jessica Seymour and Lacey McDougall led Concord Sunday. Seymour combined to go 5-for-7 with three RBI. McDougall, who struck out four batters and earned the win in game one, finished the day 4-for-8 with three runs scored.

Game 1 Concord 8 – Fayetteville State 4

Sophomore pitcher McDougall (1-0) earned the complete-game victory after scattering five hits and four runs while striking out four FSU batters in seven innings. McDougall helped her own cause at the plate by going 2-for-4 and scoring two runs.

Eight of Concord's nine starters registered hits in game one.

Seymour and Whitney Carrigan drove in two runs each to pace Concord in its season-opening win. Seymour was 3-for-3 while also drawing one walk and stealing her first base of the season. Carrigan went 1-for-2 with her lone hit being a two-run double.

Playing in her first collegiate game, freshman Kristi Benvenuto went 1-for-3 with two runs scored and one RBI.

Fayetteville State scored two runs in the first inning and pitcher Spencer Embler kept CU's bats quiet early on, holding Concord to just one hit in the first three innings, to give the Broncos a 2-0 lead.

However, McDougall calmed down after her shaky first inning and proceeded to hold Fayetteville State hitless over the next five innings. Meanwhile the Mountain Lions' offense picked up starting in the fourth inning when Seymour belted a double that allowed McDougall, who led off the inning with a single, to score.

Concord scored the tying and go-ahead runs in the fifth inning. With one out, sophomore Karsyn Boothe singled up the middle to drive in Benvenuto to tie the contest at 2-2. Boothe later scored on an error to give CU the 3-2 advantage through five innings.

The Maroon and Gray added five insurance runs in the top of the seventh with Carrigan's two-run double to center field scoring Benvenuto and Seymour to cap off the big inning. FSU mounted a slight comeback in the bottom of the seventh by scoring twice before McDougall retired consecutive batters to strand runners on second and third and ensure Concord's 8-4 win.

Game Two Concord 4 – Fayetteville State 3

Seymour had another quality game in the nightcap, going 2-for-4 with one run scored and driving in the game's winning run for the Mountain Lions. McDougall was also 2-for-4 with one run scored and Alyssa Morris continued the trend of Concord freshmen making quality early impressions with a two-hit, two-RBI performance.

Rachel Mack (1-0) gave up three runs over seven innings for the victory. Mack, who had four strikeouts, gave up just one run and four hits to Fayetteville State in the final six innings of play.

After being held scoreless for the first half of game one, Concord wasted little time getting started in game two thanks to an RBI-single to left field by Morris in the first inning that plated Mack, who reached base with a single earlier in the inning. The Broncos answered with two runs of their own in the bottom of the first.

The Mountain Lions tied the game at 2-2 when Morris struck a two-out single that scored Hayley Wade, who led off the frame with a base hit and advanced to third with sacrifice hits by Mack and McDougall. CU took the lead in the fourth when Seymour crossed home off of a wild pitch. FSU countered with a run its own in the fourth to tie the game back up at 3-3.

Concord was finally able to finish off Fayetteville in the fifth inning when Seymour ripped a two-out single up the middle to score McDougall from third, giving the Mountain Lions the 4-3 lead. The one-run edge of more than enough for Mack, who was able to work out of jams in the fifth and sixth innings before tossing a perfect seventh inning en route to Concord's 4-3 win.

Concord returns to action Monday with a doubleheader at St. Andrews Presbyterian.