Box Score 1 |
Box Score 2 by Benny Benton
WILSON, N.C. – Barton College pitcher Ashlyn Reagan recorded her fourth straight win with a complete-game five-hitter, and freshman Megan Kelly collected three hits, including her first collegiate homer, as the Lady Bulldogs downed Coker College, 6-1, in BC's 2014 home opener Sunday at Jeffries Field.
In the nightcap, Coker junior Logan Cox tossed a seven-hit shutout in her first start of the season to lead the Cobras in a 2-0 victory.
The split left the Cobras with a record of 9-8 on the year, while Barton moved to 6-10.
GAME 1: Barton 6, Coker 1
Reagan, a sophomore transfer from Hampstead, N.C., held a Coker offense batting .292 and scoring nearly six runs per game without a hit until the third inning, and took a three-hit shutout into the seventh inning when the Cobras finally got on the board. Reagan (4-3) did not walk a batter and struck out four.
She was given a 1-0 lead in the second inning after a single by Amber Weaver, a walk to Lindsey Sharpe and another single by Crystal Britton loaded the bases with one out, setting the table for a two-out RBI infield single to short by Alex Baylis.
Coker starter Jessica Koumas (1-2) allowed Barton just two hits over the next two innings to keep the contest a one-run game, but Kelly opened the bottom of the fifth with a blast over the fence in left-center.
Kelly, a Plymouth, N.C., resident who came into the day leading the team with a .410 average, went 4-for-8 in the two-game set and also made two spectacular catches in left field while slamming into the fence.
Her home run would not be her only hit or RBI in the inning, as the Lady Bulldogs sent 11 batters to the plate, collecting seven hits and scoring five times. In addition to driving in the first run of the frame on the homer, Kelly also accounted for the last one with an RBI single to left. Betsy Braswell, Crystal Britton and Baylis also drove in runs to give Barton a big 6-0 advantage.
Coker used singles by Tayler Barcomb and Sydney Weatherford, followed by an RBI groundout to short by Carley Bailey, to score its lone run, but Reagan got consecutive pop-ups to third to end the game.
Kelly, Weaver and Britton all had three hits in the 14-hit attack, with Kendra Kassonie and Baylis each adding a pair. Baylis and Kelly each had two RBI.
GAME 2: Coker 2, Barton 0
After his team's play in game one, Coker head coach David Hanna benched almost his entire lineup from the first contest. The lineup of reserves produced three hits but no runs through the first five innings off Barton starter Autumn Pittman (2-1).
To begin the sixth, Hanna pinch-hit usual starter Katelyn Szupello, the team's average leader at .357, and the junior delivered a single up the middle. Clarissa Suttle sacrificed her to second with a bunt, and Megan Strickland moved her to third with another single up the middle. Pittman retired Barcomb – the only holdover from game one – for the second out, but Hanna brought 2013 all-conference selection Weatherford off the bench, and she produced a clutch, two-out single to left to drive in Szupello with the game's first run.
Ashlee Ellen, the team's 2014 RBI leader, followed with a pinch-hit at-bat, and she singled to right-center to drive in an important insurance run for the Cobras.
Barton managed just two hits and did not get a runner into scoring position through the first five innings against Cox (1-0), In the sixth, the Lady Bulldogs threatened after getting consecutive singles to lead off the frame from Baylis and Kelly. Kassonie sacrificed both runners into scoring position, but Cox got a foul out to third and a fly ball to center to end the threat.
The Lady Bulldogs challenged Cox again in the seventh, loading the bases on singles by pinch-hitter Liz White, Taylor Bowden and Baylis. However, Cox got a fly ball to shallow center and a fly ball to right to end the game.
Cox walked one and struck out three in getting the win. Pittman scattered seven hits, did not walk a batter and struck out three in suffering her first loss of the year.
Strickland had two hits for Coker, while Baylis had a pair of hits for Barton.
Barton returns to action on Wednesday when it hosts Fairmont State in a 2 p.m. doubleheader.
