Pembroke Splits Twinbill With Flagler
ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. – In a pair of tightly contested ball games the UNCP softball team split a doubleheader with Peach Belt Conference foe Flagler College on Saturday afternoon, dropping game one 3-2 in 10 innings before defeating the Saints 5-4 in game two to remain two games over .500 in league play.
UNCP moves to 26-13 overall with the split while moving to 9-7 in conference play. Flagler goes to 21-17 on the year with a 5-5 mark in the PBC. The split also keeps the Braves in fourth place in the league standings, two games ahead of the Saints who are currently in fifth.
Freshman shortstop Holly Berry went 5-for-8 at the plate driving in four runs for the Braves on the day while senior third baseman Jelena Shaw was 4-for-8 with three runs scored and one RBI.
Pitcher Alex Hartshorn (11-4) was credited with the loss in game one giving up three runs (one earned) on four hits with eight strikeouts in nine and one-third innings pitched while Jamie Burwell (5-1) picked up the game-two victory in relief for the Braves. Hartshorn earned her second save of the season closing out game two.
The Braves will be back in action tomorrow when they travel to Savannah, Ga. to take on Armstrong Atlantic State in a doubleheader set to begin at 2 p.m.
GAME ONE: FLAGLER 3, UNCP 2 (10 Inn.)
In game one the Saints got on the board first when Heather Hill drew a walk with the bases loaded to put Flagler up 1-0. The two teams traded scoreless innings back-and-forth until the top of the sixth, when Berry hit a solo home run with one hit to tie the game at 1-1.
Neither team posted runs in the eighth or ninth innings as Berry drove in UNCP's second run of the game in the top of the 10th with a single to left to drive in Shaw from third to give Pembroke a 2-1 lead heading into the bottom half of the frame.
With runners at second and third in the bottom of the 10th Lauren Ely hit a walk-off two-RBI single to left-center to win the game for the Saints in extra innings.
UNCP took the early lead in game two when Shaw scored from third on a throwing error by the Flagler catcher to give Pembroke a 1-0 lead in the top of the first. Flagler tied the game in the bottom of the third on a Tori Jolley RBI-single that plated Ely from second.
Pembroke exploded for four runs in the top of the fourth highlighted by a Berry two-run single to give UNCP a 5-1 lead heading into the bottom of the frame.
Flagler scored a pair of runs in the bottom of the fourth to cut the lead to 5-3 before posting a run in the bottom of the sixth to pull to within a run of the Braves at 5-4. However, the Saints would be unable to plate any more runners as the Black & Gold earned the one-run victory.
