Softball Comes Through Late to Defeat Point at Cola Classic

COLUMBIA, S.C. - The Columbia College softball team ended their home-opening Cola Classic Tournament with a 3-1 win over Point University (Ga.) on Saturday evening in the final game of the two-day tournament.

The Koalas fell earlier in the day 9-3 to a tough opponent in NAIA foe Rio Grande University (OH) (4-0). The Koalas scored their runs in game one via a Sophia Caley RBI fielder's choice in the 1st, a Caley RBI single in the third and an Elaina Seymour sac fly in the 5th that trimmed URG's lead down to two at 5-3.

Pitcher Ally Boyd tossed 5 and 1/3 innings allowing just 3 earned runs on 6 hits with 2 walks and a strikeout. Recording multi-hit games were Aliyah Crawley, Caley and Maggie Hinz.

Junior pitcher Addison Warner got the win (1-2) against Point throwing a 7-inning complete game allowing just one run on 2 hits while walking two and striking out a season-high seven. Offensively, junior DH/P Ally Boyd got CC on the board early with her second inning leadoff home run while junior SS Sophia Caley drove in the two game-winning runs on a two-out RBI single in the bottom of the 6th. Boyd is now hitting .333 with 2 homers and 9 RBI while Caley is hitting .556 with 8 RBI.

Outfielder/SS Ashlynn Wolff and 2B Maggie Hinz led off the pivotal sixth inning with back to back singles before 1B Aliyah Crawley advanced the runners to 2nd and 3rd on a sacrifice bunt. Caley then singled through the left side to score Wolff before faking a steal of second base as Hinz also came around to score. 

The Koalas improve to 3-5 on the season and 2-2 at the tournament while Point fell to 3-3 and went 1-3 at the Cola Classic. They will next remain home to host local D-2 foe Benedict College (S.C.) on Wednesday in a 2 pm DH, weather permitting.