Box Score 1 |
Box Score 2 Florence, S.C. – After losing the first game of the doubleheader 11-0, the Erskine Flying Fleet (2-4) roared back to claim game two 2-1 against the Patriots of Francis Marion University yesterday in softball action at the FMU Softball Stadium.
Game One
After putting the Fleet down in order to start the game, the Patriots banged five straight hits and had their first seven batters reach base in route to a five run first inning. The Patriots tacked on six more runs, two each inning, over the next three innings. In all, the Patriots scored eleven runs, seven earned, on seven hits to win game one.
Patriot pitchers Katlin Munda and Shelby Kelly combined for the three-hit shutout over five innings. Munda started and went two innings, allowing two hits while striking out three. Kelly picked up the win in relief, tossing three shutout innings and giving up one hit.
In the second inning, Erskine threatened to score with back-to-back singles by sophomore
Lydia Trexler (Lexington, SC, White Knoll High School) and freshman
Chandler Crawford (Williamston, SC). The next three batters were retired in order to end the threat. Freshman
Mia Blochviak (Taylorsville, NC) had the other hit for the Fleet.
Game Two
The Fleet demonstrated a short memory, rebounding to win the second game 2 to 1 behind an outstanding pitcher performance by sophomore
Candace Fitch (Cherryville, NC, Burns High School) and freshman
Karen Hawkins (Belton, SC).
The two Erskine pitchers combined to limit the Patriots to four hits, all singles, over seven innings. Fitch pitched the first four inning, avoiding trouble twice. In the first inning, the Erskine defense committed two fielding errors that left the bases loaded. Fitch induced a ground ball from Danielle Myers to end the inning. In the third inning, Fitch walked a batter then allowed one of her two base hits to put runners on the corners. This time Fitch got Myers to pop up back to her to kill the threat. Fitch picked up the win, her first of the season.
Meanwhile the Erskine batters staked the Fleet to an early 2-0 lead. Trexler laced an RBI single in the first to score
Brittany Reynolds (Seneca, SC) and
Brittany Rhinehardt (Clover, SC) singled home Crawford in the third.
The Fleet banged out nine hits in the contest with Rhinehardt, Blochaviak, and Reynolds each having two hits.
Hawkins relieved Fitch in the fifth and worked her way out of a bases-loaded jam to preserve the 2-0 lead. In the seventh, Mikala Barnhart singled and caught the Erskine defense napping as she waltzed into second base. She scored two batters later on the third Fleet fielding error of the game. Hawkins got the next two batters to pop up in the infield to earn her first collegiate save.
Erskine hosts South Atlantic Conference powerhouse Carson-Newman University on Friday for two games. First pitch is set for 1:00 p.m.
