Hartsville, SC – Sophomore Heather Richey tossed her second no-hitter this season to help Erskine win game two of a doubleheader against Coker College 5-0.  Earlier Erskine had lost game one to Coker 1-0.  With the loss, Erskine finishes one game behind Limestone College in the conference standings.  Limestone won their last two games against Queens University to win the conference regular season title. 

Coker’s Sydney Greenwalt out dueled Erskine’s Kelsey Spurrier (Charlotte, NC, Butler High School) in game one to win 1-0 in a classic pitcher’s duel.  Greenwalt surrendered just three hits over seven innings while striking out two and not walking a batter.  Spurrier gave up one run on two hits in six innings.  She whiffed five and walked two in the losing effort.

Coker scored the game’s lone run in the third inning.  First baseman Gina Easler led off the inning with a double and was advanced to third on a sacrifice bunt by Bri Jacobs.  Sarah Roundtree lifted a fly ball into centerfield,  just deep enough for Easler to beat Morgan Purcell’s throw home.

Larissa Shannon (Newberry, SC, Newberry High School), Lindsey LaPrad (Summerville, SC, Fort Dorchester HS) and Purcell (Duncan, SC, Byrnes High School) each had a single for the Fleet.

In game two, Richey (Abbeville, SC, Abbeville High School) came within two batters of a perfect game.  Ironically Richey walked the first batter of the game before retiring the side.  In the next inning, Jaclin Poole reached on an error but Richey induced a groundball double play to the next batter.

Meanwhile the Erskine offensive came alive scoring five runs.  The Fleet got a run in the first on two doubles by Shannon and Purcell.  Erskine busted the game open in the fifth inning by scoring three runs.   With one out, senior Kerry Fincher (Easley, SC, Wren HS) singled and stole second base to start the Fleet rally.  Shannon followed with her second double of the game scoring Fincher and later scored on a double by Bailey Thornton (Pauline, SC, Dorman High School).   Two batters later Thornton scored on a sacrifice fly by Ashlyn Hicks (Caycee, SC, Brookland-Cayce High School).   Erskine added another run in the seventh on an RBI single by Hicks.

Erskine advances to the conference tournament this weekend as the #2 seed.   Erskine plays #7 Belmont-Abbey College on Friday at noon.

Game One Box Score

Game Two Box Score