Box Score 1 |
Box Score 2 by Benny Benton
WILSON, N.C. – Senior Liz White tossed a complete-game three-hitter to lead the Barton College softball team past Southern Wesleyan University, 4-2, in the second half of a Conference Carolinas doubleheader Tuesday afternoon at Jeffries Field.
Junior Megan Kelly sparked the BC offense in the victory, going 3-for-4 at the plate, including two doubles, and driving in a run. Senior Rachel Jordan went 2-for-3 with an RBI, and White helped herself at the plate with a pair of hits and a run scored.
Barton could only earn a split on the day, however, as Lizzie Fela blasted two home runs for the Warriors in game one to back a four-hit pitching performance by Lucy Wolff in a 4-1 win.
The split left Barton with a record of 8-15 overall and Southern Wesleyan with a mark of 14-18. Both teams ended the day 3-7 in conference play.
Game 2 – Barton 4, Southern Wesleyan 2
White (5-8) gave up just one hit over the game's first five innings. The Windsor, N.C., resident walked three and struck out five in the contest.
Barton took a 1-0 lead in the third inning when Samantha Bass produced a leadoff single down the right field line, moved to second on a sacrifice bunt by White, advanced to third on single by Kelly and came home on an RBI groundout by Taylor Bowden.
The Lady Bulldogs threatened again in the bottom of the fourth, getting a leadoff double by Kelsie Conner, a walk by Crystal Britton and a bunt single by Sydney Speight to load the bases with no one out. However, Bass lined into a double play at third base, and Britton was thrown out at home plate to end the inning while trying to score from second base on a single to center by White.
Southern Wesleyan's defense helped Barton out in the fifth inning, however. After Kelly led off the frame with a double into the left field corner, Bowden produced a sacrifice bunt back to the pitcher, but the ball was thrown wide of first, allowing Kelly to score and Bowden to advance to second. Two batters later, Jordan drilled a double to left-center, scoring Bowden to increase BC's lead to 3-0.
The Warriors, which had not had a hit in the game since Ashleigh Wilbur's single to center with two outs in the second inning, finally got something started against White in the sixth when leadoff hitter Sara Sweatt beat out a bunt for a single. Two batters later, Allison Barbee walked, and game one hero Fela followed with a single through the left side to score Sweatt. Barbee advanced to third on the hit and came home on a sacrifice fly to center by Katie Byrd, cutting the deficit to 3-2.
With two outs in the bottom of the sixth, White helped her own cause with a single down the right field line. Kelly followed with a double off the fence in left, bring White all the way around to score an insurance run that put BC in front, 4-2.
White then retired the Warriors in order in the seventh to finish off the complete-game win.
Game 1 – Southern Wesleyan 4, Barton 1
The two sides took a 1-1 tie into the top of the fifth inning, but Barton committed two errors that led to the three-run margin of victory for Southern Wesleyan.
Sweatt, the leadoff hitter in the order for SWU, drew a one-out walk and then stole second base. Barton tried to cover the bag on the play with its center fielder, but the throw went into the outfield, allowing Sweatt to trot all the way around for the go-ahead run. Two batters later, Barbee reached base on a two-out fielding error at short, allowing Fela to get an at-bat in the inning.
In the top of the second inning, Fela had taken a 2-2 pitch low and off the plate from Barton starter Hannah Jones and still managed to muscle it over the fence in dead center field for the first run of the game. In the fifth, she jumped on the first pitch from Jones and deposited it into the trees down the left field line, scoring Barbee in the process, to give Southern Wesleyan a 4-1 lead.
Jones (3-6) scattered seven hits in the complete-game effort, allowing two earned runs, walking two and striking out four.
SWU's pitcher, Wolff (6-7) entered the contest with a 7.52 ERA, but Barton could not put the ball in the right spots for hits off the sophomore from Indiana. Wolff produced an equal number of groundball and flyball outs (10) while striking out just one. She did not walk a batter.
Half of Barton's four hits and its only run came in the bottom of the third. Speight led off the frame with a single to center, moved to second on a sacrifice bunt by Bass and scored on a two-out triple into the gap in left-center by Kelly.
Barton will step out of conference for its next two contests, first visiting Virginia State University for a twinbill on Friday afternoon before returning home to host UNC Pembroke in a doubleheader on Tuesday at 2 p.m.
