Cougars slip past ASU
From staff reports

Brittany Gaston went 3-for4 to lead the Appalachian State’s softball team’s offense, but a late innings rally came back just short as ASU fell 6-5 to College of Charleston Sunday afternoon at Sywassink/Lloyd Family Stadium.

Charleston (13-20, 6-6 SoCon) got on the board first with a Kristie Shifflett home run to left center field to give the Cougars a 2-0 lead. CofC scored first in ever game of the series.

Appalachian (17-20, 9-6) got a run back in the fourth inning when Meagan Squartino drove in Brittany Gaston with a pinch hit RBI single.

Charleston countered with four runs in the top of the fifth to chase ASU starter Kayla Richardson, who took the loss, allowing five hits and five runs, but just two earned runs.

The Mountaineers counted Charleston’s fifth, with three runs in the bottom half of the inning.

Katie Boyd started the inning with an infield single and Michelle Lighton followed with a walk and Brittany Gaston reached on a bunt single.

Boyd scored on an RBI walk by Morgan Price (Kannapolis, N.C./NW Cabarrus) and Ashley Stubbs (Balm, Fla./Newsome) delivered a two RBI double to right center to score Brittany Gaston and Lighton.

Megan Rembielak (Advance, N.C./Bishop McGuinness) got ASU closer in the sixth, reaching on a walk. She reached second on a wild pitch and moved to third on an ground out by Boyd, and scored on a passed ball.

Appalachian got two runners on in the seventh, when Ashley Gaston (Alpharetta, Ga./Roswell) walked and Andrea Mcintyre singled, but Shannon Howard induced a ground out for the final out of the game.

Brittany Gaston had three hits and scored two runs for ASU while McIntyre added two hits.

Teri Fister (Summerfield, N.C./NW Guilford) had another solid relief outing for ASU, going three innings, allowing three hits and one unearned run.

ASU travels to SoCon leader Chattanooga on Friday at 6 p.m. and will play a doubleheader on Saturday beginning at 1 p.m.

Before the game, Sywassink/Lloyd Family Stadium was offically dedicated to the six women of the Sywassink/Lloyd family. Haley Lloyd threw out the first pitch to commerate the occassion.