Softball Splits Doubleheader at Charleston

Saturday, March 29

Charleston, S.C.

2 p.m.

James Madison University

23-9, 4-0

College of Charleston

22-12, 2-2

James Madison

Charleston

3/29/2014 10:08:00 PM | Softball

Box Score 1 Box Score 2

CHARLESTON, S.C., March 29, 2014 – The James Madison softball team split a Colonial Athletic Association doubleheader at the College of Charleston, Saturday. JMU won game one 5-3 before falling in game two, 3-2.

The split runs Madison's record to 23-10 overall and 4-1 in the CAA. Their loss ends the team's six-game winning streak. Charleston sits a game back of the Dukes in the league standings at 3-2 and is now 23-12 on the season.

Game two was a tight pitchers' duel between the clubs as CofC's Hope Klicker battled by junior right-hander Heather Kiefer (Potomac Falls, Va./Potomac Falls) for the win. She improved to 12-9, limiting the Dukes to two runs on four hits in a complete-game effort. She strick out five and did not walk a batter.

Kiefer dropped to 10-5 with the loss. She held her foe to three runs, two earned, on 10 hits. The two-time All-CAA selection struck out two and walked two in six innings pitched.

Second baseman Katie Padilla led the charge offensively for the Cougars, going 3-for-3. First baseman Chandler Frisbie had a double and two runs while shortstop Lizzy Vuaghn reached base four times with two hits and two walks.

Freshman center fielder Niki Prince (Ashburn, Va./Stone Bridge) went 2-for-3 to lead the charge for JMU. Senior designated player Catherine Clavin (Poquoson, Va./Poquoson) had a home run, two RBIs and a run scored in three at-bats while freshman right fielder Taylor Newton (Bradenton, Fla./Lakewood Ranch) was 1-for-2 with a run.

JMU got on the board first in the contest as they used a couple of two-out hits to grab a 2-0 lead. Newton started the rally with a single up the middle. In the next at-bat, Clavin fell behind 0-2 before battling Klicker to a 2-2 count. She then pounced on a mistake from Klicker, driving the ball out to left-center field for her third career home run.

Charleston strung together three straight hits to start the bottom of the second to cut the lead in half. Frisbie started the frame with a double to left and moved to third on an infield single by Rebecca Mueller. Third baseman Kelsey Hodgson drove in the run with a single up the middle that got by the diving senior shortstop Caitlin Sandy (Fayetteville, N.C./Jack Britt). After a couple of outs, Charleston tied the score when shortstop Lizzy Vaughn battled Kiefer for a walk with the bases loaded and two outs.

The Cougars grabbed the lead in the bottom of the fifth on a two-out single by designated player Valerie Cassell. It was an unearned run as Frisbie reached on an error to start the frame. She moved to second on a ground-out and scored when Cassell's soft liner found the grass in front of the left fielder.

The Dukes put a runner on base in the top of the sixth and seventh, but could not bring the tying run around.

In game one, Charleston rallied from a three-run deficit to tie the game after six innings, but gave up two runs in the seventh as