DUNCAN, S.C. – The Barton softball team (26-21) opened the Conference Carolinas Championship Friday night with a thrilling win over Southern Wesleyan (30-14), 7-6, at Tyger River Park.
Barton junior first baseman
Savannah Olson (La Plata, Md.) ended the contest with two outs in the bottom of the seventh inning with a walk-off RBI single – scoring junior shortstop
MacKenzie Taylor (Mebane, N.C.) – as the Bulldogs held off a furious rally by Southern Wesleyan to win their fifth straight contest.
Barton senior designated player
Gracelyn Massey (Princeton, N.C.) hit a two-run home run and finished with three runs batted in while sophomore
Ali Bunch (Wilmington, N.C.) (5-3) pitched two scoreless innings in relief to earn the win.
For Southern Wesleyan, Avery Mercer (Watkinsville, Ga.) and Talissa Cannady (Abbeville, S.C.) both drove in a pair of runs as the Warriors used a four-run sixth inning to tie the score at six-all before Olson's heroics in the bottom of the seventh.
The Warriors' Chloe Smith (Villa Rica, Ga.) went the distance but fell to 8-5 after suffering the loss.
Barton next faces Emmanuel (22-27) on Saturday at Noon in a winner's bracket game while Southern Wesleyan takes on second-ranked Francis Marion (43-4) in an elimination contest Saturday starting at 2:30 p.m.
