In the opening softball doubleheader of Southern Conference play in the 2013 season, the Elon University softball team found itself on the losing end twice against the visiting Georgia Southern University Eagles. The Eagles needed eleven innings to take game one, 8-5, before taking a 6-4 win in game two after only an hour and 25 minutes.
The Bulldogs raced out to a 3-0 lead in the first game courtesy of two RBI singles and a home run. After freshman pitcher Kayla Caruso settled down, Elon used the middle innings to tie the score at three. Senior left fielder Tomeka Watson blasted her eighth home run of the season in the fourth, followed by a set of back-to-back doubles by freshman right fielder Emily Cameron and sophomore first baseman Grace Eng, the latter of which scored a run. In the fifth, junior third baseman Johanna Spencer was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded to tie the game.
The two teams settled into a deadlock that would not break until the tenth inning. Eagles senior first baseman Tabby Douberley hit an RBI double off of Caruso, who wound up working 10.1 innings in the first game. Junior center fielder Carleigh Nester answered Douberley by doubling home sophomore pinch runner Caitlin O’Shea, and the game continued to the 11th.
The luck ran out for the Phoenix in the 11th, when the Eagles pushed across four runs. Elon got one back in the bottom of the frame when senior catcher Camille Hill scored on a fielder’s choice, but the Eagles walked away 8-5 victors. Nester finished the game 4-6 while Cameron was 3-6 on the game.
In game two, the Eagles tagged sophomore pitcher Chelsea White and O’Shea for five runs in the first four innings, a lead that would increase to six before Elon put four runs on the board courtesy of an RBI double from Eng, a 2-RBI double from Spencer, and a passed ball that allowed Spencer to score.
Despite cutting the lead, Elon could not complete the come back and the Eagles earned the sweep. Hill, Eng, and Spencer had two-hit games for six of the Phoenix’s seven hits.
Elon falls to 9-8 with the losses while Georgia Southern Improved to 13-10. The two teams will play one more game Sunday at 1:00 p.m. at Hunt Softball Park.