The Catamounts played the Furman Paladins in the last home series of the season for the softball team this past weekend, April 26 and 27. The Cats also celebrated the five players graduating this May.
Here is the recap of the games from this weekend.
Coming into the series, the Catamounts were 20-27. There was a double header on Saturday, April 26 with the Catamounts splitting those two games with the Paladins.
The first of the two games on Saturday started at 1 p.m. and went nine innings.
Starting in the circle for the Catamounts was Tessa Juett. Juett pitched five innings in two trips to the mound. The left-handed pitcher allowed five hits, four runs scored, eight base on balls and nine strikeouts. Coming in relief for Juett was Makenzie Martin, who threw two innings and allowed only a single hit and no runs. Getting credited with the win is Amanda Fulton. She pitched two innings and only allowed one hit.
The Catamounts were first to score on an RBI single off the bat of shortstop Natalie Henry. The next at bat was graduate student Imara Harrell, who completed a sacrifice bunt to drive in Sydney Dirks to score the second run of the inning. In the top of the fifth inning, the Paladins still had not scored until a fielding error occurred, allowing a run to score.
Later in the inning, Kiley Perry went yard with a 3-run homerun to make the score 4-1 in favor of the visiting Paladins. The Catamounts would tie the game up in the bottom of the seventh inning off a Maya McPherson sacrifice flyout to bring in the tying score. In the bottom of the ninth inning, with the bases loaded, Fulton singled to the first base side, bringing in the game-winning run.
The Catamounts won 5-4 in extra innings.
The second of the two games of the doubleheader started soon after. The Catamounts were first on the board with a Dirk’s homerun, making the score 1-0. With two more runs being batted in the third, the Catamounts extended their lead to 3-0.
In the fourth inning, the Paladins got on the board with two runs scoring and cutting the lead down to 3-2. The Catamounts came back swinging in the fifth inning, scoring two runs, making the score 5-2. In the top of the sixth inning, the Paladins scored five runs, giving Furman their first lead of the game. In the bottom of the seventh, the Catamounts came up short by one run and lost the game 7-6.
On Sunday, April 27 the final game of the series was played. It was the last game of the series and the last home game of the season, as well as the celebration of the team’s seniors. There are five seniors on the team this year. Left-handed pitcher Tessa Juett, right-handed pitcher Makenzie Martin, infielder Natalie Henry, catcher/outfielder Mattie Mentel and graduate student outfielder Imara Harrell.
The five student-athletes were honored before the game and received flowers and a framed jersey.
Carrie Scarborough, Mattie Mentel’s parent, and is so proud of her.
The Catamounts showed up on Sunday, scoring 10 runs on six hits, closing the game out early with a mercy rule after the top of the fifth inning. Senior Juett pitched the whole game for the Catamounts, allowing four hits and one run. In the second inning, Mentel grounded out but drove in a runner from third, getting the first score of the game. The third inning is where the lead really stretched out for the Catamounts, with two runs scored off of wild pitches and one run scored off of a fielding error. Then, with the bases loaded, freshman Tatum Martin came into the game to pinch hit and hit a base-clearing double, scoring 3 runs and extending the already large lead to 8-0. The Paladins scored a run in the fourth to avoid the shutout. Then, to end the fourth inning, Dirks went yard and brought in two runs to make the score 10-1 and seal the win on senior day in style.
Devante Wedlock attended the senior day game and was happy to see the seniors get a big win. “The girls came out and they came to dominate,” Wedlock said.
Beth Milton, a proud parent and WCU softball fan, “could not be happier for our 5 seniors.”
The Catamounts leave the series with a 22-28 record.
The Catamounts play their final series of the season, May 3-May 4, in Greensboro against the University of North Carolina Greensboro Spartans. The Southern Conference tournament starts May 7.
