The Cougars play in another elimination game tonight at 5 p.m. against the winner of Elon and Appalachian State.
"I thought we played a really good game," said head coach Shelly Hoerner. "Every win is exciting. Greensboro is a great team and this one turned into a slug fest. We scored runs when we were in scoring position and our pitchers did well in shutting down their hitters. This game showed the resilience we have as a team."
The Cougars exploded for ten hits in the contest and plated six runs for the second time in the tournament.
Mackenzie Maples (Corona, Calif.) started the Cougars' scoring with a gargantuan home run to right which broke the SoCon tournament record for total combined home runs.
Ashton Jarrett (Hanahan, S.C.) was 3-for-3 in the game with three singles and also executed a sacrifice bunt. Jarrett scored two of the Cougars' six runs.
Amanda Lonergan (Pembroke Pines, Fla.) was two-for-three with a pair of RBIs. She doubled off the wall and now has an extra-base hit in every game of the tournament.
Hope Klicker (Walla Walla, Wash.) picked up her second win of the tournament as she entered the pitching circle in a tie game in the fourth inning and threw 3.2 innings holding the Spartans to one run and striking out five.
For the first time in the tournament, the Cougars scored in an inning other than the sixth with a productive first set of at bats. Jarrett legged out a ground ball to the shortstop to put herself on base with an infield single before Maples crushed a two-out pitch onto the roof of the football practice facility beyond the right-field fence to give CofC the early lead.
The Spartans would not go quietly, however, and equalized in the next half inning with Dominique Madruga sending a game-tying two-run home run to center field after a Heather Robb walk.
The Cougar offense produced again in the third when Maples walked and Lonergan alertly placed a bunt single in the vacancy left behind by the second baseman covering first base for the shifting infield. After Lizzy Vaughn (Placerville, Calif.) singled into right center to load the bases, Lonergan made another awareness play to screen the shortstop and prevent her from making a play on a groundball to provide Klicker with an RBI and CofC with a 3-2 lead.
UNCG would respond right away once again as Robb led off the top of the fourth with the Spartans' second home run of the game and her second of the tournament.
CofC loaded the bases for the third time in four innings as Jarrett and Kelsey Hodgson (Woodstock, Ga.) singled to start the bottom of the fourth. The Spartans' third fielding error of the game filled the bags and Lonergan and Vaughn both hit doubles to put CofC up 6-3.
The Spartans again looked to retaliate after reaching their first two hitters to start the fifth but Klicker bore down and struck out the side to preserve CofC's three-run lead.
The Spartans got a runner to third base in the sixth but Klicker again relegated the threat and pitched effectively in the seventh to earn the win.
