BLACK MOUNTAIN, N.C.— Playing its second twin bill in as many days, the Montreat softball team split a pair of thrilling non-conference contests on Sunday afternoon against the University of Pikeville Bears, dropping game one in extra innings (2-1) before coming up with a clutch base knock to take game two (8-7). The Sunday split in Black Mountain, N.C. moved Montreat's overall record to 3-14 on the year.
 
Picking up where she left off on Saturday, Leah Coffing kept dealing in the pitcher's circle. The freshman from Daytona Beach, Fla. earned her first start of the season in game one, throwing five scoreless innings while allowing just three hits and a walk. Coffing also struck out two batters in her sterling effort, lowering her season ERA to 1.38.
 
The Cavaliers offense was also stymied by the Pikeville pitching staff, although the Cavs did manage to register a hit in four of its first five innings at the dish.
 
Montreat had the best scoring chance for either team in the bottom of the sixth. After Allison Chapman drew a pinch-hit walk, Ashley Starnes ripped a double down the third-base line. Jayda Treaster, who came in to pinch run for Chapman, sprinted around the basepaths and bolted for home. Unfortunately for the Cavaliers, a good relay that started in left field eliminated Treaster at the plate.
 
As game one entered extra innings, Pikeville executed two well-placed bunts to score the game's first run in the top of the eighth. In the bottom half of the inning, the Cavaliers' Chapman came up with a clutch one-out single to drive in AJ Martin Aiken and knot the game at one.
 
In the ninth inning, the Bears pieced together a pair of two-out hits to knock in a runner from second base, while the Cavaliers stranded a runner on third in the bottom half of the frame. After a competitive nine-inning battle, the Bears took game one in Black Mountain, N.C., 2-1.
 
Martin Aiken (2-4) and Alyssa Hudson (2-4) recorded multi-hit performances in game one, while six different Cavs tallied a base knock in the effort. After Coffing's five scoreless innings in the pitcher's circle, Candace Cooper threw four sharp innings in relief, giving up three hits and two unearned runs while striking out one batter.
 
In game two, it was the Cavaliers who struck first with back-to-back run-producing hits in the bottom of the initial frame. Starnes drove a ball to deep center to score Cameryn Bass from first base and tally her seventh RBI of the season. Leyna Gould then followed with a single to right center, scoring Starnes and handing Montreat a 2-0 lead after one.
 
Starnes and Gould were in the middle of action again in the third inning as Montreat added five runs to push its lead out to 7-0. Starnes led off the inning with a single, and after a pair of wild pitches, scored on Gould's double to left field. Later in the frame, a double steal allowed Abigail Christopher to make it 4-0. Isabella Colbert kept the inning going with a two-out RBI triple to right field that scored Hudson, while an error and an Aiken bouncer up the middle pushed two more Cavs across home plate and wrapped up Montreat's five-run third.
 
Pikeville (5-9), who couldn't break through against Deanna Waddell in the first three innings, managed to manufacture three runs as a response in the fourth. A two-run double pulled the Bears within five, but a Bass-Aiken-Sarah Word relay gunned a runner out at the plate. A groundout ultimately scored another run, but the Cavs entered the bottom half of the inning still leading by four (7-3).
 
The visitors continued to chip away at the Montreat lead, pushing a pair of runs across in the fifth to pull within 7-5; however, Pikeville ran into two outs on the bases as a couple of Cavalier relays threw runners out at home and third to end the frame.
 
In the sixth inning, the Bears were able to wipe away their deficit and tie the ballgame up at seven thanks to a trio of Montreat errors.
 
Despite Pikeville scoring seven consecutive runs over three innings, the Cavaliers were not deterred. Three straight singles from Bass, Starnes and Ashley Steadman inched Montreat back in front of the Bears with just three outs to go.
 
Kyann Lyne, who came on in relief to record the final out of the sixth, pitched a perfect 1-2-3 inning in the seventh to close out a game two victory for Montreat, 8-7.
 
Eight Cavaliers combined to record 12 hits in the victory, with Starnes (3-4, RBI), Gould (2-2, 2 RBIs) and Martin Aiken (2-3, RBI) all racking up multi-hit efforts while driving in at least one run. Meanwhile, Lyne earned her first win of the season in the pitcher's circle.
 
After a postponement of the Montreat softball team's Monday doubleheader at Johnson University-Tennessee, the Cavaliers are scheduled next to visit Columbia College on Wednesday. First pitch of the doubleheader is set for 4:00 p.m. in Columbia, S.C.