Box Score 1 |
Box Score 2 by Benny Benton
MISENHEIMER, N.C. – The Barton College softball team suffered two more close losses on Friday, falling 4-2 and 4-3 in a Conference Carolinas doubleheader at Pfeiffer University.
The Lady Bulldogs fell to 5-12 overall and 1-5 in league play. Four of those five league losses have been by one run and the other by two runs. Pfeiffer improved to 15-11 overall and 3-1 in the conference.
Barton took a 2-1 advantage in the sixth inning of game two after a squeeze bunt by Hannah Jones and an RBI single by Rachel Jordan, but the Falcons produced three runs on back-to-back homers in the bottom of the sixth to regain the lead.
Three Pfeiffer errors helped the Lady Bulldogs score a run and load the bases with one out in the seventh, but the game ended on a lineout-tagout double play.
Game one was tied 2-2 after three innings, but the Falcons scored single runs in the fourth and fifth to capture the win.
Jordan, Taylor Bowden and Megan Kelly each had two hits on the day for Barton
Game 2 – Pfeiffer 4, Barton 3
Pfeiffer starter Sydney Poole took a perfect game into the fourth inning, retiring the first 10 batters she faced before Bowden broke it up with a one-out single through the left side. After moving to second on a wild pitch, Bowden advanced to third on a two-out single through the left side by Jordan, but Poole got a groundout to short to end the threat.
Barton pitcher Liz White (3-7) kept the Falcons scoreless through four innings as well, giving up three hits over that span and working out of a jam in the third after Pfeiffer moved two runners into scoring position.
The Falcons finally got on the scoreboard in the bottom of the fifth when the No. 9 hitter in the order, Emma Tuttle, produced a single to right-center, stole second, and scored on a single by Rachel Crowder.
The Lady Bulldogs fought back in the top of the sixth. Kelly was hit by a pitch to lead off the frame, then stole second and moved to third on a single to left by Bowden. Pfeiffer brought in hard-throwing reliever Sam Jarmusch, but Barton freshman Hannah Jones executed a squeeze bunt to score Kelly with the game-tying run.
Bowden moved to second on the bunt, and scored on a single down the left field line by Jordan, her team-leading seventh two-out RBI of the season.
Barton's 2-1 lead would not hold, however, as the Falcons received a big hit from an unexpected source. After Bailey Sherrill drew a one-out walk, Chandler Walker took a 1-1 pitch from White over the fence in right-center to put Pfeiffer back into the lead, 3-2. Although she had five homers a year ago, Walker did not have one in 2016 and was batting just .185 at the time of the blast.
Anna Lauren Brafford, who had homered in the first game of the doubleheader, followed Walker with her second long ball of the day and fourth of the year to put Pfeiffer up 4-2 after six innings.
Three errors by the Falcons helped Barton score one run in the seventh, and a walk to Kelly by reliever Kennedy Lester loaded the bases with just one out. Bowden followed with a liner to right on which Sydney Speight started from third towards home, but Brafford's throw beat her to the plate, and Speight was eventually tagged out in a rundown for the final out of the game.
Barton had just four hits in the game, two each by Bowden and Jordan. Jarmusch (2-2) earned the win in relief, with Lester collecting her third save of the year.
White gave up seven hits in the loss, walking two and striking out six.
Game 1 – Pfeiffer 4, Barton 2
Barton jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the top of the first when Kelly drew a leadoff walk, stole second, moved to third on a wild pitch and scored two batters later on an RBI single by Jones.
Pfeiffer tied the game in the bottom of the second when Brafford cracked a two-out solo home run to center field off Jones.
Kelly, who reached base in all four of her at-bats, quickly put the Lady Bulldogs back in front by leading off the top of the third with a home run down the left field line, her third of the year.
However, Pfeiffer answered once more in the bottom of the inning. With one out, Vada Blue Sherrill singled through the left side and stole second base to reach scoring position. Crowder followed with a single up the middle, driving in Sherrill with the tying run.
White led off the Barton fourth with a double to right-center, but Lester, the Pfeiffer starter, retired the next three Lady Bulldogs in order to work out of the jam. From that point on, Lester (6-7) gave up just one more hit to BC in a complete-game five-hitter. She walked two and struck out six.
The Falcons took the lead in the bottom of the inning, again courtesy of Sherrill and Brafford. Sherrill led off the frame with a single, moved to second on a groundout and scored on a double into the left field corner by Brafford.
Pfeiffer tacked on an insurance run in the fifth, as Sherrill was hit by a pitch to start the inning, stole second and scored on a double to right-center by Crowder.
Jones (2-4) worked five innings, giving up seven hits and the four runs, all earned. The freshman did not walk a batter and struck out four. Carolina Merrill worked a scoreless sixth inning, allowing one hit.
Barton will continue its road trip on Saturday with a 2 p.m. non-conference doubleheader at Anderson University.
