LAURINBURG , NC — After dropping the first game 6-3, the St. Andrews Presbyterian College softball team salvaged the second game with a come-from-behind 8-7 victory to earn the Carolinas-Virginia Athletics Conference doubleheader split against visiting Coker College on Wednesday.

The Cobras hold a 26-15 overall and 11-7 CVAC record while the Knights ledger reads 6-22 overall and 3-11 in the CVAC.  

St. Andrews hosts CVAC rival Erskine College in a doubleheader on Saturday at 1:00 p.m. Coker finishes up its regular season play when they host CVAC foe Mount Olive on Sunday at 2:00 p.m.

Game 1 (7 innings)  

The Lady Cobras jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first inning of the opening game with four singles. A Kimberly Atkinson ( McBee, SC) single to left and a Marie Mascio ( Pelion , SC ) single through the right-side drove in the Coker runs.

Freshman starter Anne Dobmeier ( Buffalo, NY) knotted everything at two apiece with a bases loaded single to center that plated sophomores Mika Tanji ( Honolulu, HI) and Erin Haugen ( Fort Mill , SC ).

Atkinson squeezed a two-run, bases loaded double down the left field line to regain the Coker two-run lead in the second. A long double to center by Somer Bigham ( Florence , SC ) and a passed ball tallied two more runs for the Cobras in the third.

Senior Amme Mason (Georgetown , CA ) drove in the Knights last run with a single down the right-field line in the seventh to post the final score of 6-3.

Bigham went the distance on the mound for the victory allowing three runs on 11 hits while striking out 11. Atkinson led Coker with a 3-for-3 performance with three RBI.  

Tanji went 3-for-4 with two doubles to lead SAPC while Haugen, Dobmeier, and Bet Smith (Lexington , NC ) all slugged two hits apiece.

Game 2 (7 innings)  

Atkinson continued with the hot bat in the nightcap, drilling a double off the left field wall and scoring on a double play to give the Lady Cobras an early 1-0 advantage in the second. Jessica Blackwell ( Hartsville , SC ) added two more runs in the third on a double in the left-center gap.

A bases-loaded RBI-groundout by Mason in the third scored the Knights first run. However, Atkinson drilled a three-run homer to right-center to extend the Cobra lead to 6-1.  

After a run-producing single by junior Devane Rushing ( Monroe, NC), St. Andrews took advantage of two Coker errors in the fifth to score four more unearned runs to tie the game at 6-6. The rally was highlighted by a RBI-double by Smith.

Once again Atkinson struck for the Lady Cobras, belting her sixth hit of the day in the top of the seventh that scored Amy Shelley ( Marion , SC ) for the go-ahead run.  

However, the Knights had the last say with a two-run rally in the bottom of the seventh to take the finale 8-7. Mason led off with a single and Rushing followed with a walk. Dobmeier singled in Mason for the tying run while freshman Brittni York (Indian Trail, NC) walk-off single to center plated Rushing to end the game.

Tanji earned the win in relief of Dobmeier while Amanda Shelton ( Huntington Beach , CA ) took the loss for Coker.