COLUMBUS - The Columbus State University softball team split a pair of Peach Belt Conference games with UNC Pembroke on Sunday afternoon.
The Cougars (23-11, 8-4 PBC) sealed the opener with a 10-3 victory but couldn't find momentum in the finale losing 2-0.
GAME 1: CSU 10-3
Morgan Elston continued her power surge as the second-year sophomore launched her fourth homer of the weekend and fifth of the week in the second to make it a 1-0 ballgame. With the solo blast, Elston set a CSU record for hitting a home run in four straight games.
Later in the inning, Paige Vincent got in on the action, ripping a double off the left field wall to bring up Maddie Dodson to the plate. Dodson made it 2-0 with a hard single that deflected off the shortstop's glove.
The Braves responded quickly though as they tied it up in the top of the third, thanks to a Lauren Hilbourn home run to centerfield.
Columbus State didn't waste any time regaining the lead in its half of the third. Freshman Laura Harris started the scoring with an RBI double, which platted Hannah Rose Corbin who walked earlier in the inning. Elston delivered again, this time with a sacrifice fly to left field that scored freshman Lindsey Patton. Vincent made it a 5-2 Cougar lead after collecting her second hit of the game.
The runs kept coming in the fourth as Katelyn Cooper hit her first collegiate home run to extend the lead to 6-2. However, Hilbourn jacked her second homer of the game in the fifth to minimize CSU's lead to three.
Columbus State put the game away in the bottom of the fifth with three more runs. Dodson had the big blow in the inning, a two-run blast to right-centerfield to put the Cougars up 8-3. Caitlyn Canady and Cooper closed out the scoring with a double and a single, respectively.
Hannah Rose Corbin earned her 14th win in the circle, striking out 11, while allowing three hits and two walks.
Cooper (HR, 2 RBIs), Elston (HR, 2 RBIs), Vincent (2B, RBI) and Dodson (HR, 3 RBIs) all collected two hits.
GAME 2: UNCP 2-0
Columbus State struggled to find clutch hits in game two as the Braves shut them out 2-0.
The game was scoreless through the fifth, as each team couldn't seem to find a way to get runners across the plate. UNCP got on the board with in the top of the fifth after a leadoff home run from Kaci Roberson.
Pembroke rallied in their last at-bat in the seventh to score an insurance run. With runners on second and third, a perfectly placed bunt by Mary Sells made it a 2-0 game.
Corbin led the Cougars at the plate going 2-for-3, while Harris and Vincent both added a hit. Corbin took the loss inside the circle, falling to 14-6, while Lauren Gammas improved to 5-2 with the win for the Braves.
UP NEXT
Columbus State is back at Cougar Field on Tuesday, April 20 for a non-conference doubleheader against Albany State University starting at 3 p.m.
