Box Score 1 |
Box Score 2 by Benny Benton
WILSON, N.C. – The Barton College softball team never gave itself a chance against rival University of Mount Olive on Wednesday, committing too many errors while producing too few hits in losing both ends of a Conference Carolinas doubleheader.
The Lady Bulldogs (19-24, 7-13) had four errors that led to five unearned runs during a 9-2 loss in game one, and added two more miscues in the nightcap that accounted for a pair of unearned run in a 9-0 five-inning setback.
Barton also produced just six hits in the opener against Mount Olive pitcher Madison Johnston, and needed an infield single to lead off the fifth inning by Sydney Speight to avoid being no-hit by Julia Hodges in the second game.
Mount Olive, meanwhile, delivered 22 hits and stole 12 bases in the doubleheader to move to 30-18 overall and 16-6 in the league.
The losses dropped the Lady Bulldogs into the eighth and final spot among teams eligible for the conference tournament, just percentage points ahead of ninth-place Lees-McRae College, making this weekend's league finale with Converse College critical.
Game 1 – Mount Olive 9, Barton 2
The Trojans set the tone for the day on their very first at-bat, getting a leadoff double into the left-centerfield gap from Kelsey Akers, who went 3-for-4 at the plate and scored three times. Two batters later, Kayla Allen ripped a single up the middle off Barton pitcher Liz White (10-12) to drive in Akers with the game's first run.
Brooke Kamphuis singled and stole second to lead off the Mount Olive third, and Akers singled up the middle to drive her in. Akers stole second as well, and scored on a two-out double to left by Anna Ingram to increase the UMO lead to 3-0.
Barton didn't get a hit off Johnston (16-7) over the first three innings but made up for it with three in the fourth. Taylor Bowden led off the frame with a flair down the right field line for a single and Hannah Jones followed with a single to left. Two outs later, Samantha Bass hit a sharp grounder up the middle which UMO second baseman Kristin Power dove to knock down but had no play on, allowing Bowden to score and cut BC's deficit to 3-1.
The Lady Bulldogs would score their second run on the exact same play – Power diving towards the second base bag to knock down a ball off the bat off Bass. This time the hit drove in Rachel Jordan, who had walked and moved to third on a double down the left field line by Kelsie Conner.
In-between those two Bass RBI, however, Barton's defense committed two errors in the Mount Olive fifth that opened the door for a big five-run inning by the Trojans, four of those runs unearned. Ingram delivered an RBI single in the frame and Callie Ferrell added a two-out, bases-loaded single that drove in a pair of runs.
Another error by BC in the seventh set up Power to score on a Caitlin Ewers sacrifice fly.
Mount Olive had 12 hits in the contest off White and Barton reliever Carolina Merrill. White surrendered 10 of the hits and all of the runs, four of them earned. She did not walk a batter and struck out seven.
In addition to the three hits from Akers, the Trojans received two hits each from Allen and Ingram. Ewers, Ferrell and Ingram each drove in two runs.
Bass was the only player with multiple hits for the Lady Bulldogs and also produced both RBI in the contest off Johnston, who gave up six total hits, walked two and struck out six.
Game 2 – Mount Olive 9, Barton 0 (5 inn.)
Hodges (11-6), the game two starter for Mount Olive, retired the first eight Barton batters in order before issuing a two-out walk to Sydney Burton in the third inning. She also gave a free pass to Briana Jackson, moving Burton into scoring position, the only BC runner to advance that far. However, Hodges then got a line drive to third to end in the inning.
After Mount Olive's offense scored two runs in the top of the fifth to bring the eight-run rule into play, Hodges needed just three more outs to complete the no-hitter. However, Barton's first batter of the inning, Speight, hit a slow roller toward third base. UMO third baseman Jazmin Montgomery charged the ball and made a quick throw, but she was unable to gun down the speedy, left-handed slap hitter.
Hodges walked three and struck out a pair in her one-hit gem.
Mount Olive's offense gave her all the run support she would need with a three-run second inning that featured RBI singles by Ewers, Kamphuis and Allen.
The Trojans took advantage of two Barton fielding errors in the fourth to add four more runs. Most of them scored directly on errors, but Ingram did collect an RBI on a bad-hop single off the third baseman.
UMO scored its final two runs in the fifth after loading the bases on a walk, a single, and a hit batsman, then getting a two-out, two-run double into the right-centerfield gap from Power.
Power had three hits in the contest and the two RBI, while Ingram added two hits. Mount Olive had 10 hits in the contest, seven of them coming off Jones (8-11), who gave up five earned runs, walked four and struck out one in three innings of work.
Barton is scheduled to host the doubleheader with Converse at 1 p.m. on Saturday.
