Box Score 1 |
Box Score 2
by Kevin Buczek
WILSON, N.C.-Freshman pitcher Liz White hurled her first collegiate no hitter and then hit an inside-the-park home run to lead the Barton College fastpitch softball team to a 10-0 and 14-0 Conference Carolinas doubleheader sweep of visiting Belmont Abbey College on Thursday afternoon at Jeffries Field.
Barton did not let snow flurries during warm-ups cool off its bats as eight different Lady Bulldogs had at least one RBI. The hosts scored 24 runs on 20 hits and 10 walks in the two 5-inning victories. Barton improved to 6-18 overall and 3-9 in the league.
The Crusaders had a four-game win streak snapped and left town with records of 8-16 overall and 1-5 in the conference.
White was 4-for-5 with four RBI. Senior Elizabeth Webb walked three times, ripped a pair of doubles and scored five times. Senior Rebecka Morgan increased her team-high RBI total to 17 by knocking in four BC runs. Morgan and freshman Crystal Britton both laced three hits and scored thrice.
Barton will try and keep it going with another home doubleheader at Jeffries Field on Saturday. The Lady Bulldogs will entertain league foe Limestone College at 1:30 p.m.
GAME ONE: Barton 10, Belmont Abbey (5 innings)
White, who tossed a one-hit shutout against Pfeiffer on March 11, was able to produce her first no hitter representing the Royal Blue and White with a dominating five inning performance in Thursday's opener. White recorded seven of the Abbey's 15 outs with strikeouts including one stretch of four straight K's.
The Lady Bulldogs gave White run support from the beginning scoring six runs in the first and four more in the third.
Barton's opening outburst featured run-producing infield singles by Morgan, Britton and junior Alex Baylis.
White, a freshman right-handed pitcher from Windsor, N.C., helped herself out with a two-run double in the third that ensured the eight-run rule would come into effect in the fifth. Morgan tagged her own two-run double just before White's.
Morgan, White and freshman Emily Jordan all had two hits. Morgan finished with three RBI.
White (2-7) got herself in a little trouble in the first inning by issuing the first of her two walks and then plunking a Crusader to put a runner in scoring position. White then gave up the only potential hit to reach a Barton outfielder all game off the bat of Kaitlyn Jones but Baylis was able to track down the ball in right-center for the out to end the threat.
GAME TWO: Barton 14, Belmont Abbey 0 (5 innings)
Junior Autumn Pittman took over on the rubber for Barton to begin the nightcap and had the difficult task of keeping an angry Belmont Abbey lineup that just scored 25 runs in its last twin bill against Edinboro University at bay again but she delivered. Pittman was able to keep the Crusaders off the scoreboard again with a two-hit shutout as the Lady Bulldogs competed the sweep with the dominating 14-run win.
Hannah Bright produced the Abbey's first hit of the day with a clean single through the left side of the infield in the first inning but Pittman then induced a double play to quickly get out of the frame. Pittman faced just two batters over the minimum in five innings, which was actually one less than the 18 White encountered in her no hitter.
Pittman (2-7) fanned three Crusaders en route to her second shutout of the season.
White started the Lady Bulldogs offensive onslaught with a bases loaded single in the first. Barton then tacked on four more unearned runs in the second before White led off top of the third with her inside-the-park homer. White smacked a curling drive down the right field line that scooted to the outfield fence. White scooted around the bases and beat the throw to home plate as the right fielder recovered from diving for the ball for her first collegiate home run.
The Bulldogs then plated eight more runs in the fourth to pull away. Barton sent 14 batters to the batter's box in the inning that included a two-run double by pinch hitter Jasmine Jones and RBI-singles off the bats of Morgan and sophomore Emily Leagon. Webb and freshman Samantha Bass were hit by pitches in consecutive plate appearances with the bases full for a pair of painful RBI.
Britton, White and Leagon all had two base knocks to account for six of the Lady Bulldogs 11 hits. Webb touched home three times while Britton, Bass and senior Taylor Barker all scored two times.
