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Steve Warner Postgame | Hannah Vet Postgame
TROUTVILLE, Va. -- West Virginia Wesleyan pulled off a pair of wins over Charleston to win the 2016 Mountain East Conference softball championship, defeating the Golden Eagles 4-0 in game one and 5-3 in game two.
MEC Tournament MVP Hannah Vet pitched a complete game shutout in the first game giving up just five hits. In the second game, she scattered nine hits in 6.2 innings of work to collect the victory. She worked out of a key bases loaded jam in the in the fifth and then was relieved by Alyssa Shawgo in the sixth with the Bobcats leading 5-0. The Golden Eagles rallied for two runs in the bottom of the seventh against Shawgo, and Vet came back on to finish things off for WVWC. UC pushed one more across in the inning before Krista Waggoner snatched a line drive at first to end the game.
In the first game of the day, Eggleston delivered a home run in the opening inning to give WVWC the early lead. The score remained until the sixth inning when the Bobcats added three more insurance runs, keyed by a two-run double from Olivia Gore. Vet surrendered just five hits in the seven innings striking out three to earn the win.
The second game saw UC squander several early chances leading to a scoreless game into the sixth inning. Three errors by Charleston in the top of the sixth helped West Virginia Wesleyan plate four in the inning. Gore once again came up with a big hit scoring two runs on a single up the middle. Brooklyn Waddell added one more for WVWC with a sacrifice fly in the seventh to make it 5-0.
The Golden Eagles got the bases loaded with no outs in the seventh and Jenna Evans and Bailey Gogia each had RBI before Toppings laced one right at Waggoner to end the game. UC finished with nine hits and left 13 runners on base.
MEC All-Tournament Team
Abby Beatty (Concord)
Paige Buckworth (Shepherd)
Mallory Chapman (Wheeling Jesuit)
Taylor Brandts (UVa-Wise)
Alexa Hernandez (UVa-Wise)
Laura Ashlock (UC)
Alli Burdette (UC)
Rachelle Toppings (UC)
Anna Eggleston (WVWC)
Olivia Gore (WVWC)
Tori Pogue (WVWC)
MVP -- Hannah Vet (WVWC)