SAVANNAH, Ga. – The Savannah State University softball team (0-2) dropped its season opener to Charleston Southern University (2-0) in a doubleheader 15-9 and 12-5 Thursday at Lady Tiger Softball Field.
 
Sophomore third baseman Cortni Jones led SSU in both games with a .750 (3-for-4) batting average with a double and a triple, while junior second baseman Brianna Harris batted .667 (4-for-6) with a double and two RBIs, senior left fielder Chasney Jenkins went 4-for-7 (.571) with four runs scored and freshman first baseman Ashleigh Dennis batted .429 (3-for-7) with two home runs and four RBIs.
 
Charleston Southern 15, Savannah State 9
Jenkins, Harris, Jones and Dennis all collected two hits each, while Jenkins scored three times, Jones recorded two RBIs and Dennis hit her first collegiate home run.  On the mound, senior pitcher Amanda McDowell (0-1) pitched 3.2 innings giving up seven runs and recorded two strikeouts and junior Chelsea Malcolm pitched the final
 
Charleston Southern broke the scoreless tie in the top of the first inning after a solo home run to right field, but the Lady Tigers answered with a run in the bottom half of the inning to tie the game at one after senior right fielder Alexis Singleton singled to right field to drive home Jenkins.
 
The Buccaneers recaptured the lead after a bases loaded walk, but a strikeout swinging ended the CSU threat and for a 2-1 lead.  Once again, the Lady Tigers answered in the bottom half of the inning after junior Drea Lesure scored on a wild pitch to tie the game at two.
 
CSU took the lead in the top of the third inning after scoring two runs to take a 4-2 lead after a two-run home run to right field.  The Bucs extended its lead to 8-2 after scoring four runs in the top of the fourth inning after a two-run home run to left field and a two-run double to center field for the six run lead.  CSU added a run in the top of the fifth inning for a 9-2 lead after sacrifice bunt and an error by the pitcher to allow a Buccaneer to score.
 
The Lady Tigers battled back by scoring five runs in the bottom of the fifth inning to cut the CSU lead to two runs, 9-7.  Jenkins started the inning with a single to left field, followed by a double by Harris to put runners on second and third with no outs.  Singleton flied out to right field and Jenkins scored after the throw to second to try to double up Harris to cut the lead to 9-3. 
 
Jones doubled down the left field line to score Harris to cut the lead to 9-4 and Alyshia Bolling singled to right field to drive home Jones to cut the lead to 9-5. Dennis hit a two-run homerun to left field to cut the lead to 9-7, but back-to-back strikeouts ended the inning.
 
Charleston Southern scored two runs in the top of the seventh inning after a two-run home run to right field to take a 11-5 lead, but the Lady Tigers scored two runs in the bottom half of the inning to cut the lead to 11-9 after Singleton's RBI groundout and Jones' RBI single through the left side.
 
The Buccaneers scored the final four runs in the top of the seventh inning after an RBI double and a three-run home run to win by six runs.
 
Charleston Southern was led by Stevi Johnson, who went 4-for-5 with three RBIs, Brittany McPherson, who went 3-for-4 with three runs scored and two RBIs and Cheyenne Gandara (1-0) got the win pitching four innings giving up two runs on four hits.  Holly Clark got the save after entering the game with a two-run lead and pitched the final 2.2 innings giving up two runs on two hits.
 
Charleston Southern 12, Savannah State 5
Jenkins and Harris led SSU with two hits each, while Faith Dickerson (0-1) picked up the loss pitching the first 2.1 innings giving up three runs on three hits, while McDowell pitched the next 2.2 innings giving up four runs and Malcolm gave up two earned runs in the final two innings.
 
Charleston Southern broke a scoreless tie in the top of the second to take a 2-0 lead after two RBI doubles and increase its lead in the top of the third inning to 3-0 after a sacrifice fly to right field to drive home a Buccaneer. 
 
The Lady Tigers scored got on the board in the bottom half of the inning after a Singleton sacrifice fly to the second baseman to drive home junior center fielder Shelby Eccles to cut the lead to 3-1. 
 
The Buccaneers scored four runs in the top of the fifth inning after a grand slam to the right field to take a 7-1 lead, but the Lady Tigers answered with four runs in the bottom half of the inning to cut the lead to 7-5 after the fifth inning. 
 
Eccles started the inning with a hit-by-pitch and stole second and Jenkins singled and advanced to second after the throw went home to put runners on second and third with no outs.  Harris singled to right field to drive home Eccles and Jenkins to cut the lead to 7-3.  Harris was thrown out at second base caught stealing for the first out and a fly out recorded the second out, but Jones tripled to deep center field and Dennis hit a homerun to right field, her second of the day, to cut the lead to 7-5.
 
Charleston Southern scored the last five runs of the game in the top of the seventh inning after a three-run double and an error and a wild pitch allowed two more Buccaneers to score.
 
The Buccaneers were led by Amandas Matsumoto with a 3-for-4 performance at the plate, while Malory Kasinger went 2-for-5 with three runs scored and five RBIs.  Arizona Pilgram (1-0) picked up the win pitching the first 5.0 innings giving up five runs on seven hits, while Clark finish the game pitch two shutout innings.
 
The Lady Tigers travel to DeLand, Fla., for the Stetson Lead Off Classic this weekend.  Savannah State faces University of Kansas at 1:30 p.m., followed by host Stetson University at 6:30 p.m. on Friday and faces Kansas at 11 a.m. and University of Akron at 1:30 p.m. Saturday.  The Lady Tigers finish the classic with Stetson at noon Sunday.
 
Charleston Southern 15, Savannah State 9 (Feb 09, 2017 at Savannah, Ga.) (Game 1)
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Charleston Southern. 112 412 4 - 15 15  0      (1-0)
Savannah State...... 110 052 0 -  9 11  2      (0-1)
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Pitchers: Charleston Southern - GANDARA, Cheyenne; AYALA, Nicole(5); CLARK, Holly(5) and
DELIO, Georgi; EMBERSON, Caitlyn. Savannah State - MCDOWELL,AMANDA; MALCOM,Chelsea(4);
DICKERSON,Faith(7) and CYRUS,Kelsey.
Win-GANDARA, Cheyenne(1-0)  Save-CLARK, Holly(1)  Loss-MCDOWELL,AMANDA(0-1)  T-3:01  A-112
HR CSU - GANDARA, Jade; GANDARA, Cheyenne; EMBERSON, Caitlyn; MCPHERSON, Brittany; KASINGER, Mallory.
HR SSU - DENNIS,Ashleigh.
Weather: 62, sunny, wind: W@25mph
 
Charleston Southern 12, Savannah State 5 (Feb 09, 2017 at Savannah, Ga.) (Game 2)
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Charleston Southern. 021 040 5 - 12 11  1      (2-0)
Savannah State...... 001 040 0 -  5  7  3      (0-2)
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Pitchers: Charleston Southern - PILGRIM, Arizona; CLARK, Holly(6) and EMBERSON, Caitlyn.
Savannah State - DICKERSON,Faith; MCDOWELL,AMANDA(3); MALCOM,Chelsea(6) and CYRUS,Kelsey.
Win-PILGRIM, Arizona(1-0)  Save-CLARK, Holly(2)  Loss-DICKERSON,Faith(0-1)  T-2:43  A-37
HR CSU - KASINGER, Mallory.
HR SSU - DENNIS,Ashleigh.
Weather: 60s, sunny, wind: W@18mph
 
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