Blue Devils Get A Pair Of Two-Run Homers But Fall To Charleston Southern, 7-6

After dropping their season opener earlier in the day by a 7-0 score to UNC Wilmington, the CCSU softball team (0-2) closed out the opening day of the 2025 season with a tough, 7-6, walk-off to the host Buccaneers of Charleston Southern University.  The Blue Devils got a pair of two-run homers in Friday's nightcap, one each from Kassandra (KC) Machado and Jazmin Lasane, plus a two-RBI single from Alina Varga in to the top of the seventh inning to tie the game at 6-6, but CSU (2-5) pushed across a run in the bottom of the seventh to claim the one-run victory.

GAME INFORMATION |BOX SCORE

Score:  Charleston Southern 7, CCSU 6
Records: CCSU (0-2, 0-0 NEC), Charleston Southern (2-5, 0-0 Big South)
Location: CSU Softball Complex | Charleston, SC

KEY MOMENTS

• Trailing 1-0 heading into the top of the third, Kassandra (KC) Machado would give Central a 2-1 lead when she blasted a two-run bomb for her first homer off 2025.  Last season, Machado launched 12 home runs for the Blue Devils.
• After the Buccaneers tied the game at 2-2 with a run in the bottom of third, Jazmin Lasane but the visitors ahead by a 4-2 count in the top of the fourth a two-run big fly, her second career home run.
• Charleston Southern would score a pair of runs in the bottom of the fourth to tie the game at 4-4 and plated two more in the bottom of the sixth to take a 6-4 lead heading into the seventh inning.
• Alina Varga would tie the game up for the Blue Devils in the top of the seventh with a clutch two-out, two-RBI single that scored Reagan Vunak, who walked, and Sophia LoPiccolo, who singled, earlier in the inning.
• Unfortunately for CSSU fans, the Buccaneers would push across the winning run in the bottom of the seventh on a bases loaded walk.
• Sophia LoPiccolo and Abby Meehan each had two hits in Friday's second game to lead a seven-hit CCSU offensive attack.  One of Meehan's hits was also a double.
• Alina Varga worked a complete game as she took the loss in her first appearance of the season.  Varga worked six innings in which she allowed seven runs (five earned) on 12 hits.  She struck out three and issued 10 walks on the day.

UP NEXT

• The Blue Devils continue their season-opening road trip to South Carolina on Saturday, as they will again face UNC Wilmington at 12 noon followed by Charleston Southern at 5:00 p.m.  Both games will be played at the CSU Softball Complex.