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Box Score 2
by Kevin Buczek
HARTSVILLE, S.C.-After being shutout 8-0 in the first game, junior Rebecka Morgan drove in five Lady Bulldog runs to lead Barton College to an 8-6 Conference Carolinas softball win at Coker College on Wednesday afternoon at Saleebe-Stokes Field.
The Lady Bulldogs snapped a five-game losing skid with the win in the finale. Barton is 6-5 overall and begins league play at 1-1. The Cobras finished the day .500 at 8-8 overall and 2-2 in the conference.
Morgan – the Conference Carolinas Player of the Week two weeks ago – continued her strong play and now leads Barton with a .576 average, 19 RBI and four home runs through 11 games.
Barton next hosts Davis & Elkins College in a non-conference doubleheader at Gillette Park on Monday beginning at 2 p.m.
GAME ONE: Coker 8, Barton 0 (6 innings)
Freshman starter Katie Lee tossed a complete-game, one-hit shutout as the host Cobras cruised to an 8-0 win in six innings. Lee (2-1) fanned eight Bulldogs and retired 18-of-19 batters faced.
BC sophomore Alex Baylis prevented the no-hitter with a leadoff single in the top of the fourth.
Coker scored four runs in the second and then tacked on two more tallies in both the fourth and sixth to end the contest in six innings. Junior Jaclin Poole led the Cobras with three RBI and sophomore Clarissa Suttle accounted for thee of the nine Coker hits.
GAME TWO: Barton 8, Coker 6
Barton jumped out to an 8-2 lead and then survived a furious seventh inning rally by Coker to earn the split in the nightcap.
The two teams traded runs early on sacrifice flies before the Lady Bulldogs took the lead for good on a three-run homer by Morgan in the third. Morgan's go-ahead blast was her fourth long ball of the campaign.
Morgan finished the game 2-of-3 with a home run, a double, a sacrifice fly, five RBI and two runs scored.
The Lady Bulldogs tacked on a pair of run in both the fifth and sixth to take the six run advantage. Senior Stacy Wade knocked in two with a single in the fifth. A junior Amber Weaver RBI-double highlighted the sixth.
Senior starter Kendall Street was attempting to go the distance but ran into some trouble to start the seventh. Coker began its rally with three consecutive singles followed by a pair of run-producing groundouts. With two out and their back against the wall the Cobras belted three more hits. Sophomore Autumn Pittman took over for Street and gave up the last hit that pulled Coker to within two and put the tying runners on base before she ended the game with a big strikeout.
Street improved to 2-1 and Pittman notched her first save.
Both squads had nine hits. The top seven batters in the Bulldogs lineup all hit safely in the second game including two hits off the bats of Morgan and freshman Heather Gatton.
