Box Score 1 |
Box Score 2 by Benny Benton
RALEIGH, N.C. – Barton College split a softball doubleheader at William Peace University on Saturday, with the host Pacers winning the opener, 4-2, and the Lady Bulldogs taking the nightcap, 9-6.
The split left both teams at .500 on the young season. Barton is now 3-3 on the year, while William Peace is 2-2.
Senior Kelsie Conner had a pair of hits in both games of the doubleheader for the Lady Bulldogs, including her first home run of the year in the second contest.
Game 2 – Barton 9, William Peace 6
William Peace took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first when Jordan Mangum doubled to lead off the inning and later scored on a passed ball. However, the Lady Bulldogs struck right back with a big five-run inning in the top of the second.
Sierra Hearp doubled to lead off the second for Barton and scored on a single by Conner. Samantha Santmyers drove in a run later in the inning with a single, and Sydney Speight collected an RBI on a fielder's choice groundout. The Pacers also committed an error that led to three unearned runs in the inning.
The Pacers got one run back in the top of the third on an RBI double by Heather McLean, but Barton used an RBI single by Megan Kelly and a WPU error to plate two more runs in the fourth.
Barton tacked on another run in the fifth on Hannah Jones' RBI double. McLean led off the William Peace sixth with a solo home run, but Conner did the same for the Lady Bulldogs to start the seventh, giving Barton a 9-3 lead. The Pacers produced five hits and three runs in the bottom of the seventh, but reliever Morgan Pedley got a pop-up to end the game with two runners in scoring position.
Hearp (2-0) worked the first four innings on the mound for the Lady Bulldogs, surrendering four hits and two runs while walking one and striking out four. Pedley tossed the final three innings, giving up nine hits and four runs. She did not walk a batter and struck out one.
Kelly, Conner, Jacobs and Santmyers each had two hits in Barton's 11-hit attack.
Game 1 – William Peace 4, Barton 2
William Peace scored all the runs it would need with a three-run second inning. A leadoff double by McLean, a walk and a hit batsman by BC pitcher Makayla Meeks (0-2) loaded the bases with no one out. A walk to Courtney Barbour forced in one run, and a two-run single by Jordan Criswell drove in two more.
Barton did not produce a hit off William Peace pitcher Kelsey Durham (2-0) until Taylor Bowden's one-out single to center in the fourth. The Lady Bulldogs finally broke through in the fifth after Conner and Taylor Martin produced consecutive singles to start the inning. Brittany Jacobs sacrificed both runners over, and two batters later, Pedley drove them in with a single that pulled BC to within one, 3-2.
However, William Peace tacked on an insurance run in the bottom of the fifth with an RBI single by McLean. Conner reached base with a single in the Barton seventh, but was thrown out trying to reach third base following an error in left field, and Durham recorded a strikeout to end the game.
The Lady Bulldogs managed five hits in the contest, two by Conner. The Pacers collected 10 hits, led by Criswell, who was 3-for-3 with two RBI.
Barton will play again on Sunday, hosting Shaw University in a 1 p.m. doubleheader at Jeffries Field.
