Related: Extra-Inning Execution Pushes Softball To Split With Barton
PEMBROKE – Senior hurler Katie Sanders fired her 15th complete game of the season in Sunday's opening contest, holding Peach Belt Conference foe Georgia College hitless in the first three innings en route to a 6-3 UNC Pembroke softball victory. The Bobcats answered back in game two, taking an 8-0, run-rule affair.
The Braves (18-21-1, 6-8 PBC) remain in eighth place in the league race, but just a game out of sixth with ten conference games still to be played. Georgia College (30-14, 7-9 PBC) shares sixth with Francis Marion, despite dropping three of its last four.
UNCP rattled off nine hits in Sunday's opener, and staked claim to a 4-0 lead after three innings, forcing Georgia College starter Marisa Boyette out of the game after just 3.1 innings pitched. Toni Nelson drove in the game's first run in the first frame, plating Abbey Walters with a single to center. The Braves sent two runners across the plate via Bobcat errors in the third and tacked on another on a Savannah Melvin single later in the inning.
Georgia College rebounded with a run in the fourth on a UNCP miscue, but the Black & Gold answered back with two tallies in the latter half. Jamie Johnson led off the frame with a double to left center and scored when Walters switched places on a double of her own. Walters then scored on a Nelson single to stretch the advantage to 6-1.
The Bobcats plated single runs in the fifth and sixth, but Saunders (10-11) shut the door on any comeback attempt. The California native allowed two earned runs on six hits, while striking out five and walking three on 102 pitches. Her season ERA fell to 3.49.
Walters and Morgan Davis both turned in 2-for-3 efforts at the plate, while Nelson was a perfect 2-for-2, tallying her 23rd and 24th RBIs of the season. Walters scored three runs and added one RBI, her team-best 30th this year. The junior swiped one bag, her 21st, good for fifth in the PBC, while her .414 batting average ranks fourth in the league. Jamie Johnson scored her team-leading 35th run of the season.
The Braves bats could not find a rhythm in game two, scattering three hits in the six-inning defeat. The game was scoreless after three innings, and UNCP trailed just 1-0 after four, but the guests exploded for four runs in the fifth and three more in the sixth to forge a split.
Johnson, Melvin and Whitney Jackson each tallied one hit, all singles, while Johnson also reached via walk and stole two bases, her 19th and 20th of the season. Her 20 swipes ranks fifth in the PBC. Johnson has now reached base in nine-straight games, including six in-a-row with a base knock.
Freshman Taylor Strickland (4-5) made the start in game two, surrendering four runs (three earned) on nine hits in four innings. Walters took over in relief, tossing two innings of four-hit ball, allowing four runs (one earned).
UNCP gets back to work Monday, hosting a PBC twinbill with Augusta (14-26, 3-9 PBC). First pitch is set for 2 p.m. at LRA Field. The Jaguars sit 13th in the league standings, but have won three conference games in a row, including a sweep of fourth-place USC Aiken March 30. Augusta holds a 39-15 advantage over the Braves in the all-time series and the Jaguars took both games in Augusta last season.
