RUSTON, La. –
Kylie Neel extended her reached-base streak to 21 games as the Louisiana Tech Softball team fell to Charlotte, 8-1 on Saturday afternoon at Dr. Billy Bundrick Field.
Neel extended her reached-base streak to 21 games with a single to left-centerfield in the bottom of the fourth.
A two-run third inning and back-to-back three-run innings in the fifth and sixth allowed Charlotte to break things open as its eight runs tied the most allowed in a game by Tech this season.
Offensively, Katelin Cooper and
Bailey Wright both doubled. Neel,
Caroline Easom and
Brooke Diaz all collected singles. Easom's single drove home Neel for the Lady Techsters' lone run of the game.
LA Tech is now 31-19 overall and tied for fourth with Florida Atlantic in the Conference USA standings at 12-8.
NOTABLES
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Kylie Neel extended her reached-base streak to 21 games with a single in the bottom of the fourth inning.
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Sierra Sacco has now reached base in 13-consecutive games as she drew a walk to leadoff the first inning. She made her 109
th-consecutive start in the contest.
HOW IT HAPPENED
Brook Melnychuk made her 12th start of the year for Tech, while Charlotte decided to send Sam Gress back to the circle after throwing a complete game in the series opener on Friday night.
Melnychuk got Ashleigh Washington to fly out to
Kylie Neel in deep right field for the first out of the ballgame. She then issued a groundout to
Amanda Gonzalez at shortstop and got Bailey Vannoy to pop out to
Jordyn Manning at first base to complete the 1-2-3 inning.
Sierra Sacco led off the bottom of the first with a walk. Gonzalez moved her to second with a sacrifice bunt.
Kylie Neel sent a deep fly ball to left centerfield that moved Sacco to third, but that was as far as she would get as Gress issued a groundout to escape the inning.
Melnychuk made it six-straight 49ers retired by sitting Charlotte down in order in the top of the second. Gress sat Tech down in order in the bottom half.
Ella Chancey walked to lead off the third inning giving Charlotte its first baserunner of the contest. Lexi Wagner followed with a single down the left field line for the game's first hit. Chancey scored on a sacrifice fly by Washington to make it 1-0 Charlotte. The 49ers then added another run a batter later when Kassidy Krupit singled through the left side to bring home Wagner.
Bailey Wright led off the bottom of the third with a double over the centerfielder's head. However, the Lady Techsters did not capitalize as Wright was stranded to end the third.
Melnychuk escaped a bases-loaded jam by getting Washington to fly out to centerfield, capping a scoreless fourth.
Kylie Neel led off the bottom of the fourth with a single to left-centerfield. Katelin Cooper doubled to right field, putting runners on second and third with no outs.
Caroline Easom made it a 2-1 ballgame with a single up the middle. Gress and Charlotte escaped, however with a strikeout before turning an inning-ending double play.
Emma Hutchinson relieved Melnychuk in the fifth inning. Charlotte widened the gap with three runs in the inning courtesy of three walks and two hits to make it 5-1.
Bailey Wright led off the bottom of the fifth with a leadoff walk.
Amanda Gonzalez reached on an error with two outs. The two runners would be all Tech got as Charlotte issued a groundout to escape the inning unscathed.
Charlotte added three more runs on three hits and two free passes to extend its lead to 8-1 in the sixth. In the bottom half,
Brooke Diaz singled and Easom walked.
Alyssa Martin came in to pitch the seventh and spun a scoreless frame. Tech was kept off the board in the bottom of the seventh.
Charlotte improved to 28-18 and 13-6 in C-USA play while knotting up the series at 1-1. Gress earned the win for Charlotte, improving to 17-9 on the season while Melnychuk took the loss for Tech to fall to 5-6.
NEXT UP
The Lady Techsters will conclude the series tomorrow at 1 p.m. when they will look to win their third-straight conference series.
For all the latest in Lady Techster Softball, follow them on Twitter (@LATechSB), Instagram (@LATechSB) and Facebook (Louisiana Tech Softball) or visit the official website at LATechSports.com.
