Related: Softball Nabs Pair Of One-Run Victories Over Augusta
PEMBROKE – As if one walk-off victory in a day wasn't enough, the UNC Pembroke Softball squad took down visiting Wingate in the final at-bat twice Wednesday at LRA Field, the second such victory coming in the latter half of the ninth inning.
The Braves (22-21-1) up their winning streak to four games with the sweep and are now 5-0-1 in extra-inning affairs this season. Wingate (22-11), winners of five straight before the trip to Pembroke, suffers its third sweep of the season.
The Bulldogs got on the board first in game one on a Katie McLaurin home run to left in the second inning and took a 2-0 lead in the fourth with a sacrifice fly.
The 2-0 deficit for UNCP did not last long, as the Black & Gold knotted the game at 2-2 in the bottom of the fourth when Savannah Melvin sent a two-run home run to left, plating Whitney Jackson, who had singled to lead off the frame.
Both teams were held scoreless in the fifth and sixth and Wingate could not muster a rally in their half of the seventh, setting the stage for the first walk off of the day. After two groundouts to begin the Braves' seventh, Jamie Johnson reached on a Bulldog error and stole second. That's when Jackson sent a two-out single to center to plate the UNCP third baseman and cap off the come-from-behind victory.
Black & Gold senior Katie Saunders (12-11) continued her dominance in the circle, tossing her fourth-straight complete game, surrendering two runs on five hits. The California native struck out five Bulldogs and did not walk a batter. In her last three starts, Saunders is 3-0 with a 1.33 ERA, striking out 17 batters and issuing just three walks, while allowing opponents to hit a miniscule .181 against her.
Jackson was a perfect 3-for-3 for the Braves, while Johnson, Melvin, Toni Nelson and Morgan Davis were responsible for the other four UNCP base knocks. Melvin's two RBIs are numbers 17 and 18 this season and Johnson scored her team-best 36th run if the year.
The back end of Wednesday's twinbill had just as many, if not more, fireworks as the opening contest, seeing the teams combine for six runs in innings seven through nine.
In the exact same fashion as game one, Wingate took a 1-0 lead in the second on a McLaurin long ball to left. McLaurin was not done there, blasting her third home run of the day in the fourth to give the Bulldogs a 2-0 advantage.
UNCP nearly tied the game in the sixth when Abbey Walters sent a towering shot to left with a runner on base that drifted just left of the foul pole. Three pitches later, Walters delivered an RBI triple to right that scored Davis to cut the deficit to 2-1. It's her team-best, third three-bagger of the season.
With the Braves down to their final strike in the seventh, Lexie Coxe ripped a double to left center, plating Taylor Gerhart to knot the game at 2-2 and force extras.
The international tiebreaker rule was put into effect beginning in the eighth and Wingate took full advantage, scoring two runs on one hit to grab a 4-2 lead.
The UNCP eighth began with Davis on second and she came around to score on a Bulldog throwing error after a strikeout. Davis took off to third when the catcher was forced to complete the putout of the batter at first and scampered home when the first baseman made an errant throw trying to catch Davis moving up.
Down to the final strike for the second time in as many innings, it was Walters who came through in the clutch this time, taking a 1-2 pitch over the right-center field wall to tie the game, 4-4. It's Walters sixth long ball of the season, tops on the team and tied for eighth in the Peach Belt Conference.
The top half of the ninth saw Wingate run itself out of a potential scoring situation when a runner attempted to tag up and score on a fly out to center, but was called out on appeal for leaving third base before the ball was caught.
Needing just a run to win, Nelson led off the UNCP ninth with a sacrifice bunt to move Melvin to third after she was placed on second to start the inning. That set the stage for Gerhart to snag hero duties and she did just that, ripping a single up the middle to set off the final firework of the day.
Freshman Taylor Strickland (5-5) tossed all nine innings for the Braves in the circle, needing just 96 pitched to do so. She allowed three earned runs on just four hits, striking out three Bulldogs and walking four.
Walters, Gerhart and Davis all banged out two hits apiece, while Johnson, Jackson and Coxe added one each. Johnson's 1-for-4 effort pushed her hitting streak to 10 and she has reached base safely in 13 straight games. Walters notched her team-best 23rd multi-hit game of the season and tied Johnson with 10 multi-RBI efforts. Johnson stole her 23rd bag, tying Walters for the team lead and moving into a share of fourth in the league.
The Black & Gold will look to carry this momentum into conference play Friday when they host Flagler (20-23, 5-13 PBC) at LRA Field. Originally scheduled for a noon start, the doubleheader between the Braves and Saints has been pushed back to 1 p.m. The Braves currently share fifth in the PBC standings with an 8-8 league mark and Flagler sits in 11th. UNCP and Flagler have met just 12 times on the softball field, with the Saints holding an 8-4 advantage in the series. The teams split the two meetings a year ago in St. Augustine, Florida.
