Hardeeville, S.C. (March 27, 2019) – In what was a battle between two of the top three teams in The Sun Conference, the nationally-recognized Webber International University softball team fell 10-9 and 17-12 against No. 18 the University of South Carolina Beaufort on Wednesday, March 27, at the Richard Gray Sports Complex.

Similarly to how Webber came back to defeat Ave Maria University with a nine-run bottom of the sixth inning four days ago on Saturday, March 23, the Warriors were victims of their own medicine in game one on Wednesday as USCB scored eight times in the bottom of the seventh to stun the Warriors.

USCB finished with eight runs on seven hits in the bottom of the seventh as the Warriors' pitching staff allowed each of the final seven runs to cross with two outs.

Only two of the Sand Shark's runs in game one were earned, but it was enough for USCB to steal the victory away from starter Emma Maitland (6-3), who finished with five innings of work allowing 10 hits, three total runs and two earned runs with eight strikeouts after re-entering the game with two outs and five runs already on the board in the bottom of the seventh.

After giving up 16 hits in game one, the Warriors did the same thing in game two but finished with 15 hits themselves and again held a decent lead, this time at 8-4 after two-and-a-half innings thanks to an eight-run inning of its own in the top of the third.

However, the Webber pitching and defense again could not hold on as USCB tied it up with four runs in the bottom of the third, took the lead with an RBI-walk in the bottom of the fourth, and then blew it open with its second eight-run inning of the day to make it 17-10 after five innings.

Mary-Margaret Maggard would finish 2-for-2 with three RBI's during game two, and hit a two-run homer in the top of the seventh for her team-leading fifth home run of the season.

Kaitlin Cockcroft was 3-for-5 with three RBI's herself in game two, and Anna Schutzler was 2-for-3 with three runs scored.

In game one, Victoria Atkinson, like Maggard in game two, finished with three RBI's and hit a two-run home run. Atkinson's bomb, her third of the season, came in the top of the third inning of game one to make it 3-0 Warriors at the time.

Also in game two, CC Smith scored three times before finishing with four runs in total on the day, and Maggard was 1-for-2 with two RBI's and two walks in game one as she finished a combined 3-for-4 with five RBI's and two runs scored between the two games.

Head Coach Kristy Burton said, "It was not the outcome we were hoping for today. It was a very offensive day for both teams. Both teams hit well and scored when it mattered, but USCB just happened to be the team that had more timely hits. It wasn't our best day on the defensive side, and our pitchers struggled in the circle while we also had a few errors that cost us in big moments. I was proud to see this team fight until the last out of the game. Regardless of the score, we didn't count ourselves out. Coach Kendall Core and I are more than ready to be back in Babson Park for this weekend's contest against Coastal Georgia."

Webber fell to 18-10 overall and 7-3 in The Sun Conference while USCB improved to 25-5 and 7-3. Additionally, with her single to left field in the bottom of the first inning in game one, USCB's Kayla Boyle became the Sand Shark's all-time hits leader.

Webber will return home on Saturday, March 30, to host its Alumni Day against the College of Coastal Georgia. First pitch for game one of the doubleheader is slated for 12 p.m. while all Webber softball alumni in attendance will be recognized between games. The Warriors are currently 8-2 at home on the season and are an undefeated 4-0 at home in Sun Conference games.