Coastal softball’s season comes to a close in Sun Belt Conference quarterfinals

LAFAYETTE, La. – The Coastal Carolina softball team’s season came to a close on Thursday in Lafayette, La., after suffering a 2-1 loss to the No. 2-seeded Marshall in the quarterfinals of the 2023 Sun Belt Conference Softball Championship Tournament.

The Chanticleers finished the season at 36-20 overall and 11-13 in Sun Belt play.

In the opening three innings, both offenses were held scoreless with Raelee Brabham pitching back-to-back 1-2-3 innings and striking out six hitters, while Marshall’s Sydney Nester recorded five strikeouts and gave up just one hit.

The Chants looked to put pressure on the Thundering Herd in the top of the fourth inning after Iyanla De Jesus cracked a double to center field and Riley Zana reached on a walk. However, Marshall held firm to hold the score at 0-0.

The Thundering Herd were inches away from taking the lead in the bottom of the fourth inning when Autumn Owens crushed a ball deep into left field, which bounced off the top of the wall in CCU’s favor to minimize the damage to a single. Brabham was then able to strike out the final hitter to keep the score level at 0-0.

The Marshall bats came alive in the bottom of the sixth inning when Alex Coleman drilled a leadoff single and advanced to second on a stolen base. Grace Chelemen then stepped up to the plate and blasted an RBI double to center field to put the Thundering Herd up 1-0.

Marshall scored one more run in the bottom of the sixth inning when Camryn Michallas drilled a single up the middle to drive in an RBI to make the score 2-0.

The Chants were given a glimmer of hope in the top of the seventh inning when Livi Payne reached first base on a Marshall fielding miscue with two outs in the inning. Maddy Jennings kept the momentum going when she smoked an RBI double to right-center field to narrow the gap to 2-1.

The Marshall defense was clearly rattled when Nester walked Libby Pippin on the next at-bat to put the tying run up for grabs, but it wasn’t meant to be for the Chants as a foul out secured the 2-1 win for the Thundering Herd and put an end to Coastal’s season.

Brabham fell to 12-12 with the loss after having a stellar game in the circle, recording 5.0-shutout innings and 10 strikeouts before giving up two runs in the bottom of the sixth inning.