Nutaitis and Shifflett’s power Cougars past East Tennessee State 4-3

CHARLESTON, S.C. - Sophomore first baseman Katie Nutaitis (Vienna, Va.) went 3-for-3 with a pair of doubles and two RBI and junior third baseman Kristie Shifflett (Virginia Beach, Va.) finished 3-for-3 with a home run as the College of Charleston (2-4) downed East Tennessee State (1-2) 4-3 with a run in the bottom of the seventh inning in the 2009 CofC Cougar Classic in Mt. Pleasant, South Carolina.

In the first inning the Buccaneers threatened with runners on second and third before senior pitcher Shannon Howard (Carmichael, Calif.) induced a foul fly out and struck out the final two batters to get out of the jam. They were not as fortunate in the following inning as ETSU managed back-to-back singles and took advantage of a throwing error before taking the lead on a sac fly by junior utility Katy Jett.

The Cougars would answer right back in the bottom half of the inning as Katie Nutaitis drilled an RBI double to the right centerfield gap to tie the game at 1-1. A pair of 1-2-3 innings kept the score tied until the top of the fourth inning when Buccaneers junior pitcher Marissa Hardy led off with a double. Pinch runner Annie Martin then advanced to third on a groundout and scored on a fielder’s choice to give ETSU a 2-1 lead.