INSTITUTE, W.Va. (March 23) – The Wheeling Jesuit University softball team dropped both games of a doubleheader at West Virginia State on Saturday afternoon. The Cardinals were defeated 8-0 in the first game with all of WVSU's runs coming in a single inning. The second game went into extra innings and resulted in a 6-5 victory for the Yellow Jackets.
WJU falls to 6-18 overall, 3-3 in the Mountain East Conference (MEC) with the pair of losses. West Virginia State climbs to 5-13 in the MEC, 12-5 overall with the pair of wins.
GAME ONE: West Virginia State 8, Wheeling Jesuit 0 (F/5)
The opening game of the series did not see much action outside of the bottom of the third inning. The Yellow Jackets were able to score eight unearned runs on five hits and three costly errors by Wheeling Jesuit.
West Virginia State's Emily Thompson was awarded the win for only allowing two hits and striking out six batters in her five innings pitched.
GAME TWO: West Virginia State 6, Wheeling Jesuit 5 (F/8)
The second game of the series was forced into extra innings, before an eighth inning rally by the Yellow Jackets earned them the win.
WVSU picked up their first run in the bottom of the second inning by scoring on a fielding error.
WJU answered immediately with four runs in the top of the third inning. The Cardinals took advantage of an error to plate one run and plated another on a sacrifice fly to take a 2-0 lead. After a RBI ground scored a third run, junior Crystal Carrillo (Los Angeles, Calif./Warren) lined a RBI-single into right field to push the WJU lead to 4-0.
The Yellow Jackets picked up two runs in the bottom of the third inning and one run in the bottom of the fourth inning to draw the contest level.
After a scoreless seventh inning, the Cardinals received the first shot to break the deadlock in the top of the eighth. With a runner on base, senior Courtney Rogers (Hurricane, W.Va./Hurricane) ripped a RBI-double to left field to put Wheeling Jesuit up 5-4.
West Virginia State came up with two runs in the bottom of the eighth to nullify WJU's lead and walk-off the Cardinals for the series sweep.
Rogers led the Cardinals with two RBIs, while freshman Kelsey Barron (La Salle, Mich./St. Mary Catholic Central) led all players with two runs scored.
The Cardinals extend their road trip by traveling to Charleston tomorrow, Sunday, March 24 for a MEC doubleheader. The first pitch is set for 1 p.m.
