Campbell 2, UNC Wilmington 1
Campbell 7, UNC Wilmington 3
Campbell's softball team (23-24, 6-6 Big South) won both games of its home
doubleheader against UNC Wilmington (7-36) by scores of 2-1 and 7-3 on
Wednesday, April 18, at the Eakes Athletic Complex.
Sophomore Olivia
Scarborough (6-3) earned the victory in the first game and allowed just one
run on four hits in throwing her seventh complete game of the season. The second
game was won by freshman Julia Callicutt (6-6).
Callicutt went 6.1 innings, allowed five hits, three runs (two earned), with
four strikeouts and seven walks. UNCW's Amanda Davenport (6-18) was tagged with
the loss in the opener. She allowed just two runs (one earned) in six innings
with seven strikeouts and five walks. Casey Rowland (1-18) took the loss in the
second game and allowed all seven runs on 10 hits with six walks and nine
strikeouts.
Campbell scored first in the opening game with a run in the third inning.
Sophomore Shaela
Churchill drew a lead-off walk. She took second on junior Sarah Forgacs'
sacrifice bunt and then moved to third on freshman Ericka Nesbitt's bunt
single. Churchill would scamper in with the first run of the game on freshman Stephanie Jones' RBI
single to right.
The Seahawks tied the game up with a run in the fourth inning. Kelsey
Eddinger singled, moved to second on a sacrifice bunt and scored the first UNCW
run on Jordan Critcher's single.
The Camels stole the lead back in the bottom of the fifth inning. Nesbitt
reached on a fielding error and stole second. She moved to third on a ground
out. After strikeout, freshman Kailey Farmer then
walked to put runners on the corners. Farmer then intentionally got herself in a
rundown to allow Nesbitt to steal home for the team's second run of the
game.
CU jumped all over UNCW for four runs in the first inning of the second game.
Nesbitt reached on an infield single and quickly stole second. Jones then
singled to right. Farmer walked to load the bases. Freshman Erica Johnson drew a
bases loaded walk to drive in the first run. Senior Christina Melton
pushed a single passed the second baseman and into right field to plate Jones
and Farmer. Freshman Kerstine Womack
finished off the first inning scoring with her single up the middle to score
Johnson.
The Seahawks fought back with two runs in the fourth inning. Ashley
Shingleton started the scoring with her solo home run. Critcher and Lauryn
Buckworth were both able to draw walks. A nifty double play from Churchill to
Nesbitt to Johnson eliminated Buckworth at second, but moved Critcher to third.
Critcher scored the team's second run of the inning on the error from the CU
first baseman.
The Camels added insurance tallies in each of the last three innings. Nesbitt
reached on a one-out single and motored around the bases to score on Jones'
triple in the fourth inning. Sophomore Jessi Lane walked with one
out and scored on Melton's double to right in the fifth. The CU sixth saw
Nesbitt reached on a fielder's choice and score on Jones' double to left
field.
Next, Campbell stays at home and hosts Coastal Carolina for three games over
the weekend starting with a doubleheader on April 20 at 4:00pm. The Camels will
also hold a special dedication ceremony between games for former catcher Amanda
Littlejohn, who passed away a four year battle with cancer on Sept. 1, 2011. The
ceremony is tentatively scheduled to begin at 6:15pm behind the newly
renovated facility. Among the honored guests in attendance will be her parents,
Jim (father) and Kim (mother) Littlejohn, and her former coach, Andy Kim. Also
in attendance will be former Campbell softball players Ashton Hardison and
Brittany Lee (Stanley) to speak at the presentation and official naming of the
facility.
Charleston Southern 5, College of Charleston 1
Charleston Southern 6, College of Charleston 3
Linzy Rother smoked her second homer of
the year and drove in five runs to lead a balanced offensive attack as
Charleston Southern swept College of Charleston in a doubleheader at Buccaneer
Field on Wednesday afternoon.
Morgan Dowdy (15-10) went the
distance to secure the win as the Bucs prevailed, 5-1, in the opener. CSU
(27-19) fell behind 3-2 in the back end of the twin bill, but used a three-run
sixth inning to come out on top, 6-3, and make Jen Giles (9-8) a winner in
relief.
Game One
College of Charleston’s (28-18)
Stephanie Saylors (16-9) entered play holding the 24th best ERA in the nation,
but the CSU offense was undaunted and jumped out to a 3-0 lead after Dowdy
recorded a scoreless top of the first.
Kristin Kelleher and Stephanie Sbardella were hit by pitches,
and Jana Matthews ripped a single to
center to load the bases with two outs. CSU then pushed the contest’s first run
across when Melissa Adams reached on an
error, scoring Kelleher from third.
Linzy Rother stepped into the
batter’s box next, and laced a two-run single to right field to up the Bucs’
advantage to 3-0.
Although they would add two more runs in the sixth, the Bucs’ first inning
outburst was more than enough for Dowdy, who turned in 7.0 more sparkling
innings while yielding only one run on four hits and a walk. The junior
right-hander also managed to rack up seven strikeouts along the way.
The Cougars’ only run was produced by a single swing of the bat in the
fourth, as Mackenzie Maples led off the frame with a home run clear of the right
field wall.
Saylors settled into a groove to keep CSU off the scoreboard from innings two
through five, but could not keep their bats at bay in the sixth. Sbardella
worked a one out walk, and Jasmine
Conley pinch ran and scooted to third when Adams smacked a single to
right-center. Saylors caught Rother looking for the second out, but Hayes Holdsworth came through with a clutch
two-out, two-run RBI double by lining a double to the left-center field
alleyway.
Dowdy made quick work of the Cougars in the seventh, retiring the side in
order to nail down the 5-1 victory.
Game Two
Charleston used the long ball to take a
2-0 lead against CSU starter Spencer
Adkinson in the finale. Lizzy Vaughn stroked a homer to right field in the
first, before Kelsey Hodgson launched a no-doubter to center field to start the
second.
Adkinson was lifted in favor of Rother after the Vaughn homer, and Rother
provided the Bucs with 3.0 solid innings of relief work to keep the game within
reach in the middle innings.
CSU pulled even at 2 apiece in the last of the second as it pieced together
three base knocks and took advantage of two CofC errors. Jana Matthews and Sbardella cracked
back-to-back singles to start the inning, and Adams filled the sacks when she
dropped down a sacrifice bunt and reached herself on an error.
Rother again did her part to trigger the Bucs offensively, lofting a
sacrifice fly to right field to cut the Cougars’ cushion to 2-1. Holdsworth then
struck out for the second out of the frame, but Sbardella came down the line
from third to score when Adams got in a run down between first and second,
forcing a CofC error.
Charleston took a 3-2 lead in the third courtesy of a Amanda Lonergan RBI
single, but CSU responded to knot the score at 3-3 in the bottom of the fourth
inning. Adams again keyed the Bucs out of the six hole, walking and eventually
completing her trip around the bases when Hope Klicker (11-8) uncorked a wild
pitch to the backstop.
The score would stay that way until the sixth, as Rother turned in 3.0
innings of one-run ball – striking out four – before turning it over to Giles.
Giles was excellent out of the bullpen once more, as she struck out the side in
her first inning of action in the fifth and notched four strikeouts while
permitting just two hits over 3.0 shutout frames.
Rother put the finishing touches on the doubleheader sweep in the sixth,
connecting for her second home run of the season to give the Bucs a 5-3
advantage. Adams had reached base in front of Rother by singling through the
right side of the infield. Courtney
Konyk helped manufacture an insurance run following the dinger, as the
speedy outfielder beat out an infield single, stole second base, and crossed the
plate on a fielding error with two down.
Next up for CSU is a three-game set at Gardner-Webb this weekend. The series
gets underway with a doubleheader, beginning Saturday at 2:00pm.
Courtesy: Campbell
