Army Black Knights Drop Tight Game to Sacramento St.

LAKE ELSINORE, CA – The Army West Point softball team fell in extra innings to Sacramento St., 4-3, in its final game at the Golden State Classic on Sunday.

In addition to pitching the entire contest and striking out seven batters, Alicyn Grete was 3-for-4 from the plate and scored a run. Jolie Duong also belted a two-run blast in the sixth inning, which marked her second career home run.

The contest proved to be a pitchers duel in the early segments of the game, with no runners reaching third base until the bottom of the third inning.

Sacramento St. took the 1-0 lead in the bottom of the fifth inning, though there could have been much more damage done in the inning. The Hornets had runners in scoring position with no outs, but the Black Knights’ strong defensive play limited them to just one run.

Army responded by taking a 3-1 lead in the top of the sixth. Grete led off the inning with a double out to left field. In the next at bat, Duong blasted a two-run homer out to right center to get Army on the board.

Later in the inning, Drayton scored on an infield single off the bat of Ballesteros to make the score 3-1 in favor of the Cadets.

The Hornets fought back to tie the game in the bottom half of the inning. Despite surrendering a pair of runs, the Black Knights once again escaped an inning where there could have been more damage. With the bases loaded and two outs, Grete came up with a huge strikeout to end the inning.

Sacramento St. went on to win the contest in the bottom of the ninth with a walk off single off the bat of Haley Hanson.

The Black Knights will be in Charleston, S.C., this weekend for the Charleston Invitational. Army has five games slated for the trip.