SPARTANBURG, N.C. - The Eastern Kentucky University soft team opened their weekend at the Sparkle City Invite by splitting 1-1 with games against SC State and USC Upstate.

The Colonels (7-3, 0-0 ASUN) picked up a win in their first game of the day against SC State (4-5, 0-0 MEAC) and were an inning away from a win against USC Upstate (10-1, 0-0 Big South), but a last minute surge from the Spartans ending up splitting the day for EKU.

GAME ONE - EKU 5, SCSU 1

Victoria Byrum (3-0) was first on the mound for the Colonels and picked up the win with Maddi Rutan (1 SV) coming to the circle in the fifth inning to preserve the Colonel lead and grab the save.

The Colonels got on the scoreboard quickly with two runs in the opening frame. A fielding error by the Bulldog shortstop off a Rutan hit in a bases loaded situation allowed Jaelin Haynes to cross home plate while Sharyn Duncan showed a good eye to draw a walk shortly after for the second run.

SC State got one run back in the third, but two innings later the Colonels posted two more runs to stretch the advantage to 4-1. After Taci Haase put herself in scoring position with a double, Duncan followed up with a single up the middle for her second RBI of the game. Kaitlyn Wallis made it back-to-back RBIs with a double of her own to score Duncan.

The Bulldogs threatened the Colonel lead in the bottom of the fifth, notching two runners on and the tying run at-bat with no outs, but Rutan came into the circle in relief and pitched a lights-out performance to preserve the lead.

Rutan did not allow a single Bulldog baserunner, striking out seven of her nine batters faced and forcing the other two to foul out.

Rutan put the exclamation mark on her performance with a solo shot to right center in the seventh inning to make the final score 5-1.

GAME TWO - EKU 4, UPST 5

Rutan (2-2) took the circle for the second time on the day to start the game and pitched a good showing after already having 3.0 innings to her name, allowing just two hits through the first four innings, but the Spartan bats got hot late to snatch the win.

It was not until the fourth inning that runs were put on the board as the Colonels opened the scoring with two runs. A sacrifice fly from Lilly Davis scored Kennedy Drafton and advanced Rutan to third base, who scored two batters later on a wild pitch.

The Spartans plucked away at the lead with one run apiece in the fifth and sixth innings, but the Colonels surged back ahead with two runs once again in the top of the seventh off the bat of a Reese Knox single with runners on second and third.

With a two-point deficit, the Spartans rattled off four hits to score the necessary three runs to walk-off the game in the bottom of the inning.

UP NEXT

The Colonels stay in Spartanburg but this time being hosted by Wofford at Hope Field for the second day of the Sparkle City Invite. First up is round two with the Bulldogs of SC State at 11 AM before taking on hosts Wofford at 4 PM.