NEWBERRY, S.C. – Freshman
Breezy Yelton logged her third-consecutive shutout in the circle and senior
Taylor Gerhart ripped a two-run single in the fifth inning to send the UNC Pembroke softball team to a 2-0 victory over host Newberry in game two of Sunday's twinbill at the Smith Road Complex. The Wolves won game one 2-1 on a walk-off single in the seventh inning.
The game-two triumph gives the Braves (6-6) four wins in their last five games and snaps a five-game losing skid to Newberry. The Wolves (7-3) saw a five-game winning streak come to an end with the setback in game two on Sunday and fall to UNCP in Newberry for the first time since 2008.
Yelton (4-1) picked up her third win this week by going the distance in game two and lowered her season ERA to a team-best 2.01, which ranks ninth in the Peach Belt Conference. The freshman's four wins put her in a tie for fourth in the league. Yelton allowed six hits and struck out one batter on Sunday and needed just 77 pitches to notch the complete game.
Gerhart's RBI-single in the fifth was one of 10 hits for the Braves, who registered double-digit hits for the first time this season. A trio of singles from
Rendi Wetherington,
Cara Davis and
Jamie Johnson loaded the bases with no outs for Gerhart. Five of UNCP's 10 base knocks came in the fifth frame.
Davis and
Toni Nelson each had two hits in the game-two victory, while a sextet of Braves each logged one hit.
Newberry struck first in game one on an RBI double in the second innings and led 1-0 through six innings of play. The Black & Gold had logged just two hits through six, but a pair of hits in the seventh plated the tying run to knot the game at 1-1.
Lexie Coxe laced a one-out double and her pinch runner
Kaitlynn Norton came around to score on Johnson's two-out single to left.
The Wolves used a two-out hit of their own with a runner on third in the bottom of the seventh to score the winning run and take the opener by a 2-1 final. UNCP righty
Malerie Leviner (1-2) was saddled with the loss, despite allowing just two runs on six hits. Johnson was the lone Braves to record two hits in game one with a 2-for-4 effort at the dish.
The Braves are back in action Wednesday when they continue their 10-game road trip with a pair of games at Wingate. First pitch of the doubleheader is set for 1 p.m. at the Wingate Softball Complex. The Bulldogs (5-7) knocked off Columbus State twice at the Cougar Classic this weekend, but fell twice to No. 7 North Georgia by a combined 16-0 score.
