Related: Softball Sweeps Wingate In Dramatic Fashion
PEMBROKE – After a gutsy 3-1 victory in the opening game, the UNC Pembroke softball team walked off an opponent for the third time in four games when Taylor Gerhart sent a 2-1 pitch deep to left with the bases loaded in the seventh, giving the Braves the 8-4 win Friday at LRA Field.
The sweep gives the Braves (24-21-1, 10-8 PBC) wins in six straight and 10 of the last 12, including five of the last six Peach Belt Conference games. Flagler (20-25, 5-15 PBC) has now dropped five straight with the setbacks. UNCP moves up to fourth in the league race, while the Saints are in a three-way tie for 11th. The top eight teams make the conference tournament, a place the Black & Gold have not made an appearance since 2011.
The Braves scored the first three runs in game one, two coming in the first inning. Abbey Walters plated Jamie Johnson with a sacrifice fly before Savannah Melvin deposited her fourth home run of the season over the center-field fence. Johnson and Whitney Jackson executed a perfect squeeze play in the fifth to stretch the lead to 3-0 after Johnson had tripled to right.
The lone blemish on Katie Saunders' (13-11) line came in the sixth, as the senior tossed her fourth-consecutive complete game. She struck out three and walked just one, allowing eight hits. In her last four starts, Saunders is 4-0 with a 1.25 ERA, striking out 20 and walking four.
Johnson was 2-for-3 at the top of the order for UNCP, scoring both times she was on base and added a stolen base, her 24th of the season. Walters also stole her 24th bag, good for a tie of fourth in the PBC, while Gerhart added two hits to the cause.
The flare for the dramatic was present for the third time in four games for UNCP in game two, this possibly the biggest firework of all. Tied 4-4 headed to the bottom of the seventh, the Braves loaded the bases on a single, error and walk. That's when Gerhart planted a ball well over the left-field fence to send the place into a frenzy. It's Gerhart's third walk-off hit this week and fourth of the season.
UNCP scored two runs in the first on four hits and two Flagler miscues and added single tallies in the fourth and fifth innings. The run in the fourth came via a Jackson home run, her third of the season. Gerhart plated the run in the fifth with a sacrifice fly.
Gerhart racked up three hits in game two, capping a perfect 5-for-5 day that helped her average jump from .299 to .326. She drove in a season-high five runs, all coming in the second contest. Jackson, Melvin and Toni Nelson all added two hits and Melvin scored a game-high three runs.
Freshman Taylor Strickland made the start in the circle, going three innings and allowing just one run on five hits. Walters (6-5) nabbed the win in relief, surrendering four three runs on three hits in four innings of work. She struck out two Saints and issued two walks.
The Black & Gold play the final twinbill of their five in seven days Saturday when No. 17 Armstrong State comes to Pembroke. First pitch is set for 4 p.m. at LRA Field. The Pirates are currently second in the PBC standings and have won 35 of the all-time 39 meetings with the Braves. Last season, UNCP dropped a pair of one-run games in Savannah, Georgia.
