BRISTOL, Tenn. – UVA Wise softball dropped a pair of games at King University Sunday afternoon. The Cavaliers fell 3-2 in game one and 3-1 in game two to the Tornado.
Scoreless through the first two innings of game one, UVA Wise (1-2-1) struck first in the top of the third frame as the Cavs took a 2-0 lead. Freshman Kara Long reached base first for the Cavs on a single before being put out at second base as freshman Sarah Barrett reached on a fielder's choice. Senior Alexis Miles followed with a single to right field as she and Barrett both advanced an extra base to put runners on second and third. Senior Kaylee Jones' single on the next at bat scored Miles and Barrett to put the Cavs on the scoreboard first.
King (3-1) responded in the bottom of the inning with a two-out homer to left field off the bat of Carly Turner scoring herself and Camryn Haag.
Neither team would be able to push a run across again until the bottom of the final frame when King's Rikkelle Miller knocked a walk-off double to right field scoring pinch runner Pyeton Dye to give the Tornado a 3-2 win.
UVA Wise piled up 10 hits while King notched 11 hits and one error in the first game of the day.
Jones finished with three hits and two RBI in the loss. Senior pitcher Kailyn Spencer fell to 0-1 on the season in the loss.
King's Nikole Counts improved to 2-0 as she allowed 10 hits and fanned nine in a complete game effort.
The Tornado scored the first runs of game two in the bottom of the third inning on an RBI triple followed by an RBI single to give King a 2-0 advantage.
UVA Wise tacked on one run in the top of the fifth to trail 2-1 heading into the sixth frame.
King plated one more in the bottom of the sixth on an RBI groundout scoring Brianna Harbin to put the Tornado ahead 3-1. UVA Wise managed to get runners on second and third in the top of the seventh with one out, but back-to-back strikeout's by King's Carly Turner allowed the Tornado to hold on for the sweep.
Both teams tallied five hits while King registered one error in game two.
Long and Barrett each posted a pair of hits while freshman Megan Wilson recorded a hit in the contest.
Senior Raychel Lapallo suffered her first loss of the campaign as she scattered four hits and struck out one across four innings of work.
King's Turner allowed five hits and struck out 12 in seven innings.
Cavalier softball will be back on the road Tuesday, February 23 for the conference opener against the Railsplitters of Lincoln Memorial University.
