SOFTBALL: Winston-Salem State advances to Championship Round

SOFTBALL: Winston-Salem State advances to Championship Round

April 22, 2011

Tournament Stats | Updated Bracket

PETERSBURG, VA – Before Britney Cato stepped to the plate in the fifth inning, the Winston-Salem State Rams had been held in check offensively.

Check mate.

With the bases loaded, Boyd belted a three-run double to fuel a four-run fifth inning as the Winston-Salem State Rams came from behind to knock Chowan from the winners’ bracket and advance to the CIAA Softball Championship round after a 5-3 victory on Friday afternoon at Virginia State University.

The Rams (28-11) emerge from the opening rounds of the tournament as the lone unbeaten, and would have to be beaten twice in the title round to lose the championship.

Chowan (33-18) will play Virginia State, which eliminated Bowie State 8-0 in five innings on Friday afternoon, at 10:00a.m. Saturday on the campus of Virginia State University.

Hawks starter Christie Wright was cruising in the early going. Despite being touched for a run on two hits in the second inning, Wright had limited the damage, and held the Rams to just four hits through four innings as Chowan held onto a 2-1 lead.

But Winston-Salem State, the Southern Division champion, put immediate pressure on the Hawks in the fifth. After loading the bases around an out, Nikki Lynch drew a walk to drive in a run to tie the game at 2.

In stepped Boyd, who blasted Wright’s offering to deep right-center field to clear the bases and give Winston-Salem State its first lead at 5-2.

Chowan, the Northern Division champion, managed a run on an Allie Kolezynski single in the top of the seventh, but Brittany Lane retired the nation’s leading run-producer, Tricia Gorman, to end the game.

Lane (17-5) earned the win with seven complete innings, allowing three runs on seven hits to go with four strikeouts. Cato and Shantel Haskins each had a pair of hits for the Rams.

Only one of the five runs charged to Wright (13-9) was earned. She scattered seven hits. Kolezynski had two hits for Chowan.