#25 JMU Sweeps Series with 6-3 and 8-3 Wins over Charleston

Sunday, March 29

Harrisonburg, Va.

1 p.m.

James Madison University

26-6, 0

College of Charleston

17-16, 0

Coll. of Charleston

James Madison

#25 JMU Sweeps Series with 6-3 and 8-3 Wins over Charleston

3/29/2015 6:07:00 PM | Softball

Box Score 1 Box Score 2

HARRISONBURG, Va. - No. 25 James Madison earned its second straight Colonial Athletic Association series sweep, dispatching the College of Charleston by scores of 6-3 and 8-3 on Sunday afternoon at Veterans Memorial Park.

The Dukes stretched their win streak to 18 straight games, improving to 27-6 overall and 6-0 in CAA play while the Cougars fell to 17-17 and 2-4.

Freshman pitcher Megan Good earned the decision in both games, pitching 1.1 innings of relief in game one, before throwing a complete game to lead JMU to a 3-0 weekend. She moved her record to 16-0 this season after allowing just two hits with a pair of strikeouts in her relief appearance, before giving up three runs (two earned), five hits and two walks, to go with eight K's in the finale.

Two Dukes hit at least .500 on the day, led by freshman second baseman Morgan Tolle, who went 3-for-5 (.600) with two RBI's and three runs. Sophomore center fielder Taylor Newton hit .500 (3-6), driving in a run and scoring twice while junior left fielder Hannah Hayes led the squad with the team's lone home run and a team-best four RBI's.

In game one, the Dukes scored three runs in the fourth to open the scoring. After Newton drove in Good with a RBI single to left, freshman pinch hitter Alyssa Buddle successfully scored junior pitcher/first baseman Jailyn Ford on a suicide squeeze. JMU made it 3-0 when Tolle doubled through the right side, scoring Newton.

The Cougars tied the game at 3-3 with one swing in the sixth when Katie Padilla hit her first home run of the season, a three-run shot, over the left field wall.

In the bottom half, the Dukes got all three runs back to take the lead for good. Ford ripped a triple to right field and scored two batters later on a sac bunt by Hayes to put JMU ahead 4-3. Mrozek added a triple of her own and scored after CofC had a throwing error. Tolle, who reached on that error, scored the next at-bat when sophomore right fielder Tahli Moore hit the team's third triple of the inning, to make it 6-3.

Ford pitched the first 5.2 innings and did not get the decision after conceding three runs and four hits, while striking out three. Taking the game one loss was Samantha Martin, who gave up three runs (one earned) on three hits in her one inning of relief. Hope Klicker started, and threw five innings, giving up three runs, five hits and three walks.

In the second game of the doubleheader, the Dukes fell behind early but used a four-run fourth and three-run sixth to rally for the 8-3 triumph.

The Cougars took an early 2-0 lead in the first with a two-run homer deep to left by Carly Hansis. After JMU cut the deficit to 2-1 in the second off a Hayes double to right center, which scored Newton, the Dukes went ahead for good with four runs in the fourth.

Hayes went yard for a two-run homer over the center field fence, marking her second home run of the season, to give JMU a 3-2 lead. Later in the frame with two runners on and two away, sophomore shortstop Niki Prince doubled down the left field line, scoring both Moore and Tolle, to make it a 5-2 ballgame.

Charleston got a run back in the fifth off a fielding error but Madison added insurance in the bottom of the sixth, tacking on three more runs. Prince tallied her third RBI of the game with single to left, which plated Tolle and junior catcher Erica Field doubled home Moore and Prince to give the Dukes an 8-3 advantage. That double, the 44th of Field's career, made her JMU's all-time career leader in doubles.

Martin took the loss for the second time of the day to even her record to 6-6, as she allowed five runs and nine hits in 3.2 innings, while Valerie Cassell gave up three more runs on four hits in her 2.1 innings.

The Dukes return to action next weekend when they head north to Hempstead, N.Y., to face rival Hofstra in a three-game CAA series. The teams will play a doubleheader on Friday, April 3, beginning at 2 p.m., and will close out the series at noon Sunday.