In a back-and-forth battle Sunday afternoon at Metro-Kiwanis Park, the East Tennessee State Lady Bucs rallied from a 4-0 deficit to eventually take the lead at 6-4 in the bottom of the sixth inning.
But the Elon Phoenix regrouped to force extra innings and eventually collect an 8-6 victory in Southern Conference softball action.
With the win, Elon won two-of-three games in the weekend series and improved to 23-13-1 overall, 6-3 in SoCon play. Meanwhile, the Lady Bucs dropped to 21-18, 3-3.
The Phoenix took advantage of two ETSU errors in the top of the second inning and got an RBI single from left fielder Dani Concepcion to grab an early 2-0 advantage.
They then built that lead to 4-0 in top of the third frame thanks to a pair of hits from catcher Jamie Dupont and starting pitcher Megan Borgaard, and a two-run single from third baseman Christina Melton.
ETSU’s offense finally came to life in the bottom of the fourth inning, when Borgaard walked Lady Buc right fielder Janine Sprague to force in a run, gave up an RBI fielder’s choice to ETSU starter Tiffany McVay and an RBI single to center fielder Danielle Spetar .
At the end of the inning, the Lady Bucs were within one run at 4-3.
Elon reliever Jennifer Lamb had been replaced by Borgaard on the mound.
Keeping the pressure on, the Lady Bucs tied the game in the bottom of the fifth thanks to a solo home run by the left fielder Rhea Holler, and then took the lead in the bottom of the sixth on a two-run blast by Spetar.
The Bucs were unable to score again in the bottom of the seventh and eighth innings against Meeks, and Elon managed the winning runs thanks to a two-run single by Borgaard in the top of the eighth.
The Lady Bucs face Radford in a doubleheader Tuesday at 2 p.m. and 4 p.m. on their home field in Johnson City.

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