Box Score 1 |
Box Score 2 by Benny Benton
WILSON, N.C. – The Barton College softball team extended its winning streak to four games on Tuesday after edging UNC Pembroke, 5-4, in the first game of a non-conference doubleheader, but the run ended there after the Braves downed the Lady Bulldogs, 6-4, in the extra-inning nightcap.
Senior pitcher Liz White (7-8) won her third straight decision for BC in the opener, scattering nine hits and giving up just two earned runs in her 10th complete game of the year.
After falling behind 4-0 two innings into game two, the Lady Bulldogs fought back to tie the game in the bottom of the sixth, but BC stranded the go-ahead runs on base, and UNC Pembroke scored twice in the eighth inning to win it.
The split left Barton with a record of 11-16 on the season, while the Braves moved to 17-20-1 on the year.
Game 1: Barton 5, UNC Pembroke 4
The Lady Bulldogs scored all their runs and collected all but one of their hits in the game in the second inning after sending 10 batters to the plate.
Singles by Rachel Jordan and Kelsie Conner were followed by RBI singles from Crystal Britton and Samantha Bass. A walk to Megan Kelly loaded the bases, and another run came home on an infield single by Taylor Bowden. Freshman Hannah Jones capped the big inning with a two-run single back up the middle off UNCP pitcher Katie Saunders (9-11).
The Braves began clawing their way back in the top of the fourth, getting a run after a leadoff walk by Taylor Gerhart and consecutive singles by Savannah Melvin and Sierra Shipley. UNC Pembroke had an opportunity to do much more damage after both Melvin and Shipley advanced into scoring position on the throw home, but White used consecutive liners back to the mound and then a groundout to third to leave them there.
UNCP added two more runs in the fifth after loading the bases with no one out. White recorded her lone strikeout of the game to retire the cleanup hitter, Gerhart, but Jamie Johnson was able to tag from third when Kelly reached over the fence down the left field line and caught a foul ball. When Kelly's throw home was wide of the plate, Whitney Jackson also scored, cutting the Barton lead to 5-3.
The Braves loaded the bases once more in the sixth on two singles and walk, but White got a fly ball to center to end the inning and strand all three runners.
UNC Pembroke got a leadoff double in the seventh by Gerhart, who later scored on a Barton throwing error from the outfield. But White retired the next three batters in order to seal the win.
Barton had just one baserunner after the second inning, that one coming in the fourth when Kelly reached on a single back to the pitcher. Saunders finished the game with seven hits allowed, one walk and two strikeouts.
Fourteen different players for the two teams had one hit each. Only Shipley for UNC Pembroke had more than one in the game.
Game 2: UNC Pembroke 6, Barton 4 (8 inn.)
The two teams flipped the script from game one, as it was UNC Pembroke who had a big second inning and then tried to hold on.
With one out and runners on first and second, Barton thought it had an easy inning-ending double play on a one-hopper right at the third-base bag by Toni Nelson. But the ball was called fouled by the home plate umpire and the at-bat continued. The call loomed large, because Nelson took the next pitch from BC starter Jones into center field for a hit to load the bases.
The next batter, Lexie Coxe, produced a sacrifice fly to plate a run, and Morgan Davis drove in another with an infield single to short. Johnson followed with a two-run double to left, and the Braves had a 4-0 cushion.
Barton got one run back in the bottom of the inning when Conner doubled, moved to third on a groundout and scored on a single back to the mound by Bass.
Just an inning later, the Lady Bulldogs added two more runs to pull within one at 4-3. A UNC Pembroke error to start the inning gave BC an extra out, and Barton cashed in with RBI singles by Bowden and Conner.
Barton finally pulled even again in the bottom of the sixth. Conner started the inning with a leadoff single down the left field line before giving way to pinch-runner Brittany Jacobs. Crystal Britton then beat out a bunt single, and both runners moved up a base on a sacrifice bunt by Bass.
UNCP replaced pitching starter Taylor Strickland with Abbey Walters, who walked pinch-hitter Briana Jackson to load the bases. Walters then uncorked a wild pitch that allowed the game-tying run to score, but retired two of Barton's top hitters, Kelly and Bowden, without allowing in the other two runners on base.
After giving up four hits in the second, Jones gave up just one more over the next four innings. The Braves finally got another hit in the seventh, a one-out double by Johnson, and moved her to third base on a groundout, but Jones got a big called third strike against Walters to end the inning.
Jordan reached base for Barton after being hit by a pitch in the bottom of the seventh and moved to third on a wild pitch and passed ball, but Walters got a groundout to shortstop to send the game to extra innings.
UNC Pembroke quickly scored its international tiebreaker runner in the eighth on a one-out single to left by Melvin. It added another run on a stolen base, a single by pinch-hitter Bailey Jones and a perfectly executed squeeze bunt by Nelson.
BC had runners at the corners with no one out in the bottom of the inning after a leadoff single by Britton moved the tiebreaker runner to third, but Walters got a groundout and then a double-play to end the game.
Walters (4-5) gave up just one hit in her three innings of relief work, walking one and striking out one.
Barton had nine hits in the contest. Conner collected three, while Bowden and Britton added two each.
Johnson was the only player with multiple hits in the game against Jones (4-7), who scattered eight hits, walked one and struck out two.
Barton is scheduled to host another Peach Belt Conference opponent on Thursday when it welcomes Francis Marion University to Jeffries Field for a 2 p.m. doubleheader.
