Related: Walters Leads Softball To Upset Of No. 7 Catawba
SPARTANBURG, S.C. - Two one-run affairs did not fall in favor of the UNC Pembroke softball team Saturday at Tyger River Park, as the Braves dropped a 4-3 game to Lincoln Memorial before faltering 5-4 against Southern Indiana.
The Black & Gold drop to 6-7-1 with the setbacks and see a short two-game winning streak come to an end. Lincoln Memorial improved to 4-10, while Southern Indiana moved to 6-2 with the victory.
UNCP opened the scoring in the 10 a.m. contest with the Railsplitters, plating two runs in the bottom of the first. After singles from Whitney Jackson and Jamie Johnson to open the inning, Abbey Walters ripped her seventh double of the season to right field, scoring Jackson. Taylor Gerhart followed with a perfectly executed squeeze bunt to plate Johnson.
Lincoln Memorial answered in the second, knotting the game at two with two unearned runs after a UNCP error. The Braves retook the lead 3-2 just a half inning later when Jackson singled to center to score K.B. Smith, who led off the inning with a single.
The Railsplitters scored their third and fourth runs in the third, the latter which would prove to be the game winner. The Braves best chance to break through came in the fifth when they loaded the bases with one out, but a strikeout and a groundout ended the inning.
Taylor Strickland, now 2-2, took the tough-luck loss, allowing just two earned runs in her fifth complete game of the season. The freshman surrendered five hits, while striking out two and walking a pair.
Four Braves were responsible for eight of the team's nine hits. Jackson, Johnson, Walters and Smith all tallied two hits, while Savannah Melvin added one.
Game two saw the Black & Gold suffer their fifth one-run defeat or tie of the year. Southern Indiana jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the opening frame on two hits and a costly Brave miscue.
Jackson cut the UNCP deficit in half in the Braves' first at-bat, depositing a ball over the left-center field wall for her first home run of the season.
After a scoreless second inning on both sides, the Eagles broke out in the third. They tacked on three runs on four hits, forcing a UNCP pitching change and the end of the road for Walters, the Black & Gold starter. She tossed 2.1 innings, allowing five runs (four earned) on five hits and picked up her first loss of the season (1-1).
Walters was replaced by Katie Saunders, who retired all 14 batters she faced on 40 pitches. She pitched the final 4.2 innings in just her second relief appearance of the season. Saunders' season ERA sunk to 3.82.
The Braves climbed back in the game in the fifth, notching three runs on four hits to cut the Southern Indiana advantage to 5-4. Morgan Davis led off the frame with a single before two fielder's choices left a runner on first and two outs. Johnson singled to put two on for Walters, who delivered with a double down the left-field line to plate two. Gerhart followed with a single to trim the deficit to one.
Unfortunately for UNCP, six of the next seven Braves were retired in the final two frames, wrapping up the Eagles' victory.
Walters and Toni Nelson registered two hits apiece, while five other Braves tacked on one hit. Walters saw her team-high batting average improve to .412, while Nelson is close behind, hitting .410 on the season. Walters' two RBI give her 10 this year, trailing just Gerhart, who has driven in 17.
UNCP will head home for a Wednesday twinbill with St. Andrews. First pitch is scheduled for 2 p.m. at LRA Field. The Braves won all four meetings with the Knights last season by a combined score of 21-7. Live stats and video will be available and links can be found at uncpbraves.com.
