CHARLESTON, West Virginia - With a split against West Virginia State their last time out, the Salem softball team stayed down south this weekend to take on the Charleston Golden Eagles on Sunday afternoon. It was a wild one down in the state's capital with Salem falling in a 14 inning marathon in Game 1, but the Tigers stormed back to take a dramatic win in the second game of the day 4-3. Each contest played out as follows:

Charleston 5, Salem 4

For the first game of the day, things started off slowly with neither team scoring until the 4th inning when the Golden Eagles went up 2-0. The Tigers responded with a RBI double by Jazmyn Moetului in the 6th that knotted things up. The deadlock held and the game progressed into extra innings where the real drama would begin. Jazmyn Moetului put Salem up 3-2 in the 9th with a solo home run, but Charleston tied it again in the bottom of the same inning. The Tigers took another lead in the 12th off of a Karmen Hogan sacrifice bunt that brought home Kaydee Anderson, but again Charleston tied things back up in the bottom of that inning. The gridlock finally broke in the 14th inning when Charleston walked off the contest to win 5-4. Despite the loss, perhaps the true performance of the game was from Franchesca Alvaro who went the distance and then some for the Tigers to finish with over 13 innings pitched and 3 strikeouts.

Salem 4, Charleston 3

For Game 2, Salem needed to regroup and put the sting of the tough loss in Game 1. They did just that by getting the offense moving early on. The Golden Eagles took a 1-0 lead in the first, but Salem took control of the game with a rally in the third and fourth innings. Abigail Harki put Salem on the board in the third with an RBI single that scored Kylie Zinn, then Kendall Lemley hit into a fielder's choice that allowed Bella Ortiz to score. In the fourth, Kaydee Anderson opened the inning with a single, then progressed to third on an error and a Brooke Wise groundout. From third, she found an opportunity to steal home and give Salem a 3-1 lead. Later that inning, Abigail Harki added another RBI single that again scored Kylie Zinn. The Tigers held on to the 4-1 lead from there, and needed to hold off a strong Charleston team. The Golden Eagles threatened with 2 more runs in the 7th, but the Tigers held fast defensively and shut the door to earn the win 4-3. In the pitcher's circle, Kendall Lemley continued her successful season with 3 strikeouts in 7 innings of work to earn her 13th win of the season.

The Tigers will definitely need to make the most of their off days this week to recover from the 35 total innings of softball they played in the last 48 hours. They will continue their road swing for their next pair of contests against Malone on Wednesday, April 16th at 2 PM.