The Cleveland State softball team went to first place Walters State and came back home with a split.
The Cougars (30-10, 18-10) won game one 8-2, but lost the second 12-4 of their double header against the Senators (33-7, 23-5).
The loss took Walters State out of first place in the conference dropping them to second.
In game one, The Senators jumped out to an early 4-0 lead scoring two in each of the first two innings.
Cleveland State then scored two runs in the third to cut the lead in half, tied it in the fifth, then scored two in each of the final two innings of the game to take an 8-4 lead to the bottom of the seventh.
Walters State scored two in the last half of the seventh, but it wasn't enough to come back from the Cougars rally.
Kylie Hayes (15-5) earned the victory pitching a complete game allowing six earned runs on 11 hits while striking out one and walking four.
Kristen Fowler homered, scored twice and drove in two runs. Abby Murrill doubled scoring two times and going 3-5. Ava Layne and Layla Pettigrew each had two RBI.
The Cougars started off hot in game two with the bats putting up four runs in the first, but that's all they could get across the plate in game two.
Walters State's offense came alive scoring runs in each of the four innings they batted ending the game early via the eight-run rule after the top of the fifth.
Fowler hit her second homer of the day. Murrill also drove a ball over the fence and led the team with two RBI.
Maddie O'Quinn started, but was able to record just one out before being pulled allowing three earned runs on two hits while walking two. Hayes finished out the game suffering the loss.
Next Up
Cleveland State now faces the new first place team in the conference this weekend. First the Cougars go to Chattanooga State (30-10, 24-4) for a double header on Friday, April 19 with a noon first pitch. Then, the Tigers go to Cleveland State for a make-up double header on Saturday with a 2pm first pitch. The two will also meet on Tuesday back in Chattanooga starting at 2pm.