Box Score 1 |
Box Score 2 by Benny Benton
WILSON, N.C. – Barton College pitcher Ashlyn Reagan held King University to just two hits and no runs over the final six innings of Sunday's second game at Jeffries Field, leading the Lady Bulldogs to a 6-2 victory and a split of their Conference Carolinas doubleheader.
The win gave Barton (8-18) its first win in league play this year after nine losses and its first victory over the Tornado since the Tennessee school joined the conference in 2011-12.
It was also much-welcomed individually by Reagan, who had dropped her 10 previous decisions this season after leading the squad with nine victories a year ago.
Barton's win came after King (9-17, 5-5) had extended its winning streak over the Lady Bulldogs to eight straight with a 3-1 extra-inning victory in the first half of Sunday's doubleheader.
The Tornado scored a pair of unearned runs in the top of the eighth to hand Barton pitcher Liz White a hard-luck loss. The Lady Bulldogs thought they had a walk-off victory in the bottom of the seventh after a two-out single up the middle by Rachel Jordan, but pinch-runner Sydney Speight was gunned down at the plate by a perfect strike from centerfielder Amanda Sports.
Jordan went 3-for-4 and drove in Barton's lone run in the first game. Megan Kelly went 2-for-4 with two RBI in the nightcap, and Reagan and Betsy Braswell each added two hits as well.
Game 1: King 3, Barton 1 (8 inn.)
After the first inning, it appeared that both White (5-8) and King starter Morgan Lowe (7-6) might be in for a long afternoon.
King loaded the bases to start the game on a single by Stephanie Rodriguez, a walk by Sports and a single by Chrissy Melcher. Cleanup hitter Hannah Smith followed with a hot single right back at White, driving in Rodriguez to give the Tornado a 1-0 lead with no one out. However, White got a strikeout and a pair of foul-outs to the catcher to limit the damage to one run.
Barton returned the favor in the bottom of the first, as Kelly produced a leadoff single, moved to second on a sacrifice bunt by Crystal Britton and scored on a Jordan single to center to tie the game at 1-all. Braswell reached on an error and Samantha Bass walked to load the bases, but Lowe collected a strikeout to end the frame.
While both teams continued to threaten, particularly the Lady Bulldogs, neither would score again in regulation.
Barton got two runners on base to lead off the third inning when Britton walked and Jordan singled, but Lowe got a pair of fielder's choice grounders and a strikeout. In the fourth, Kaitlyn Staley singled with one out and was sacrificed to second, but Kelly's sharp line drive was directly at the right fielder.
King's Amber Walker produced a leadoff double in the sixth and moved to third on a groundout, but was caught in a rundown between third and home on a fielder's choice for the final out of the frame. The Tornado put two more runners on base in the seventh when Kelsie Craighead singled and Melcher walked, but White came through with a strikeout of King's No. 4 hitter, Smith, to end the inning.
In the bottom of the seventh, Donna Nimmo led off the frame with a single for BC. Speight entered the game as a pinch-runner and moved to second on Kelly's sacrifice bunt. With two outs, Jordan singled back up the middle and Speight was waved home as the game-winning run. However, the terrific throw from Sports beat Speight to the plate by a step, and catcher Amber Palmer was able to easily tag her out to send the game to extra innings.
King started the eighth with pinch-runner Samantha Cole placed on second base under the international tiebreaker format, and Diamond Callwood joined her on the base paths after reaching on a one-out fielding error. Palmer then delivered the big blow of the game for the Tornado, a double into the gap in left-center that scored Cole and moved Callwood to third. With two outs and the bases loaded, Rodriguez singled to short, driving in a second run to give the Tornado a 3-1 cushion.
Barton tried to rally in the bottom of the eighth, getting consecutive one-out singles from Bowden and Bass to load the bases. However, a grounder back to the mound and another one to second base ended the game.
Lowe scattered nine hits in the contest, walked two and struck out four. White gave up eight hits, walked three and struck out four in the loss.
Game 2: Barton 6, King 2
The Tornado continued its momentum from game one in the first inning of the nightcap, getting three straight singles from Rodriguez, Sports and Melcher to load the bases with no one out. Reagan nearly worked her way out of the jam without damage, getting a force-out at home plate and a pop-up to short for the first two outs, then working her way to a 2-2 count on Callwood. But the freshman took the next pitch opposite-field into the right field corner, driving in a pair of runs to give King the early 2-0 advantage.
However, Reagan shut down the Tornado the rest of the way, giving up just a third-inning walk to Sports, a sixth-inning infield single to Smith, and a seventh-inning double to Palmer in six scoreless innings of work.
Although Barton managed nine hits off King pitcher Lauren Smith (1-6), it was a pair of errors that led to most of the damage by the Lady Bulldogs.
Braswell and Bowden led off the BC second inning with consecutive singles through the left side, and two batters later Nimmo singled to right-center to load the bases. A force-out at home produced the second out of the inning, and Smith had the third one in hand when she fielded a slow roller back to the mound off the bat of Speight. However, Smith's underhanded toss to first was too high and sailed down the right-field line, allowing the bases to clear and Speight to reach third. Kelly followed with a triple down the right field line to drive her in and increase the Barton lead to 4-2.
The Lady Bulldogs tacked on another run by error in the fifth inning when the right fielder dropped a fly ball for the third out of the inning.
Barton scored its only earned run of the contest in the sixth after a single by Reagan, a sacrifice bunt by Speight and an RBI single to left by Kelly scored pinch-runner Lindsey Sharpe to put BC up 6-2.
After Palmer's double to lead off the King seventh, Reagan retired the next three batters in order to seal Barton's much-needed league win.
The Lady Bulldogs will attempt to earn two more conference victories when they host Lees-McRae College in a doubleheader slated to begin at noon on Monday.
