Game 1 box score | Game 2 box score
JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. - A pair of come-from-behind victories gave the East Tennessee State University softball team a doubleheader sweep over Northern Kentucky University in Atlantic Sun Conference action on Sunday.
ETSU scored five unanswered runs in the opener to take a 5-2 win before seeing a walk-off home run lead the Buccaneers to a 2-1 win in Game 2. With the result, NKU falls to 3-26 overall and 1-11 in A-Sun play.
Game 1 saw NKU score the game's first runs in the top of the third inning on a two-out rally. Mandi McQueen started things off with a single up the middle and then stole second base. KC Straley would drive the senior home with an infield single of her own, using her speed to advance all the way to third base in the confusion of the play at the plate. Straley came in to score after Dee Dee Davis' ground ball to second base was misplayed, giving NKU an early 2-0 advantage.
The Buccaneers, as they did on Saturday, came back to score five unanswered runs to take the lead and the game. Jackie Baird, one of the nation's top home run hitters, tied the game in the fourth inning with her 12th long ball of the season, a two-run shot that scored Katie Wolff, who singled to lead off the inning.
A string of extra-base hits in the fifth inning sealed the game for the Buccaneers, beginning with a leadoff triple for Jennine Duncan. Nicole Fox followed up with an infield single before Kelsey Chernak ripped a two-run double into the gap in right-centerfield. Wolff added some insurance with a double to left-centerfield, scoring Chernak and making it 5-2.
ETSU hurler Taylor Carter nailed the game down from there, retiring the final six NKU batters in order to improve her record to 9-5 on the year.
Alyssa Enrique took the loss for NKU in the circle, falling to 2-5 on the year. She gave up five runs on six hits in four innings of work. Alex Caudill threw two innings of scoreless relief as well.
Game 2 was more of a pitchers' duel, with the teams trading runs in the second inning. Michelle Carson put the Norse on the board in the top half of the frame on an RBI single to right field to drive in Dani Devlin, who singled earlier in the frame. Back-to-back walks in the frame threatened to add to the Norse total, but ETSU pitcher Whitney Leon was able to hold on for a strikeout of Mandi McQueen to leave the bases loaded.
The Norse managed to get a base runner in each of the next four innings, but failed to push one across before going down in order in the seventh.
Mykeah Johnson provided the difference in the game, sending an 0-1 pitch over the wall in right-centerfield to walk-off the Norse with her first home run of the season.
Wolff (3-6) got the win for the Buccaneers, pitching two innings of hitless softball while striking out two in relief of Leon, who walked three and struck out four in the five-inning start. Alex Caudill allowed two runs on six hits and struck out two in the loss, falling to 0-15 on the year.
NKU combined for four hits, including a 2-for-3 performance by Devlin, who scored NKU's only run.
The Norse will hit the road on Wednesday for a non-conference doubleheader at Miami (Ohio). First pitch is set for 5 p.m. NKU will then return home for a three-game series against A-Sun foe Stetson over the weekend. It's Strike Out Cancer weekend, and fans are encouraged to wear pink to the Frank Ignatius Grein Softball Field as the Norse will be raising funds for the American Cancer Society.
