Box Score 1 |
Box Score 2 by Benny Benton
FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. – Barton College freshman Hannah Jones homered and earned a complete-game pitching victory in her collegiate debut on Sunday, helping the Lady Bulldogs to a 9-2 win over Fayetteville State University in the second half of a non-conference softball doubleheader at Lamon Street Park.
Senior Liz White, who also homered in the nightcap, tossed a complete-game five-hitter in the opener, striking out 13, but the Lady Broncos won 3-2 in extra innings on a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the eighth.
The split came in Barton's season debut, which had been delayed until Sunday due to inclement weather. Fayetteville State is now 2-2 on the year.
Game Two: Barton 9, Fayetteville State 2
Barton scored four runs in the second inning and never trailed in the nightcap. Brittany Jacobs drove in a run with a sacrifice fly, and Jones followed with a solo home run over the fence in left. Crystal Britton beat out an infield single, and White delivered another blast to left, putting BC up 4-0 early.
Fayetteville State scored an unearned run in the bottom of the frame on an RBI single by Zoe Howard following a two-out error, and Alex Wickham led off the bottom of the third with her second home run of the afternoon to pull the Lady Broncos within two at 4-2.
But Barton received RBI singles from Megan Kelly and Kelsie Conner in the fourth to move ahead 6-2, and collected RBI singles from Britton and White in the fifth to pull away to a six-run lead, 8-2. Junior transfer Briana Jackson accounted for the final run, recording her first RBI as a Lady Bulldog on a sacrifice fly in the sixth.
Conner had three hits in the contest, with Britton, White and Jones adding two hits each. White drove in three runs.
Jones gave up nine hits in her Barton debut, including two each to Shae Barnes and Ivory Gladden, but stranded three runners in scoring position. She did not walk a batter and struck out three in earning her first win.
Carley Green (1-2), the game one winner, took the loss in relief in game two, giving up five runs on eight hits in 5 1/3 innings.
Game 1: Fayetteville State 3, Barton 2 (8 inn.)
Barton broke a scoreless tie in the top of the fourth inning on a one-out infield single to short off the bat of Kaitlin Staley. The hit was the fourth in a row for the Lady Bulldogs, as Rachel Jordan, Conner and Samantha Bass had loaded the bases with consecutive singles.
White, who led Conference Carolinas in strikeouts a year ago, started the new season in similar form, striking out nine FSU batters in the first four innings alone.
She added strikeout No. 10 to start the fifth, but then Wickham drilled a pitch over the fence in right-center to tie the game at 1-all. HaLe Knowles led off the sixth with a blast of her own to left, and suddenly Fayetteville State had a 2-1 advantage with just one inning to play.
However, Barton quickly tied the game in its final at-bat when Kelly led off the top of the seventh with a home run to left, setting the stage for extra innings.
After the Lady Bulldogs failed to score their runner from second base under the international tiebreaker format, FSU used a groundout to the pitcher to advance their tiebreaker runner to third, then won the game on a sacrifice fly to left off the bat of Barnes.
Both teams managed just five hits, with no player on either side collecting more than one. White walked four and Green walked three for FSU. Green did not have a strikeout.
Barton returns to action on Saturday, when it hosts Chowan University in a noon doubleheader at Jeffries Field.
