MURFREESBORO – Starters
Malerie Leviner and
Breezy Yelton combined to allow just three runs on nine hits and limited the Chowan offense to a .188 batting average in a pair of complete-game efforts to power the UNC Pembroke softball team to a 5-1, 6-2 non-conference sweep on Wednesday afternoon at Hawks Field in Murfreesboro.
The victories snapped a season-long, eight-game losing skid for the Braves (24-20), who improve to 11-5 on the road this season and 19-5 all-time against Chowan. The Hawks (23-14) had won six-straight games coming into Wednesday's doubleheader and fall to 11-14 in non-conference play, while UNCP improves to 22-6 outside of league action.
Leviner (9-10) logged her ninth complete game of the season in the game one victory, while matching a career high with eight strikeouts and issuing five free passes. The sophomore surrendered just five hits on 131 pitches.
A quarter of UNCP seniors accounted for all the hits and RBIs in the opener, including a 2-for-3 performance from
Lexie Coxe. Coxe and
Toni Nelson each drove in two runs and scored once, while
Jamie Johnson drove in a run with a triple in the fourth.
Taylor Gerhart was 1-for-3 with a walk and a run scored.
The Hawks grabbed the first lead of the game on a wild pitch in the bottom of the third, but the Black & Gold tallied the next five runs in the 5-1 triumph. Johnson's triple drove home
Rendi Wetherington to tie the game at 1-1 and Nelson gave the Braves the lead with a bunt that plated Johnson from third. In her next at-bat in the sixth, Nelson launched her third home run in the last seven games to extend the UNCP lead and Coxe followed three batters later with a two-run shot to center.
It was the seniors again in game two who provided the majority of the offense for the Braves, led by a 2-for-2 outing from Nelson. She notched a pair of sacrifice bunts and also scored a run. Coxe drove in two runs again, while Johnson and Gerhart each logged an RBI.
In the circle, Yelton (9-4) matched Leviner with her ninth win of the season in a complete-game effort, her sixth of the 2018 campaign. Yelton allowed two runs on just four hits, while striking out one batter and walking a pair on 90 pitches.
A solo home run put the Hawks on top 1-0 in the first, but the Braves answered with two runs in the second to take the lead. Gerhart beat out an infield single to plate the first run and Coxe laid down a sacrifice bunt for the go-ahead tally.
Another solo shot from the hosts knotted the game at 2-2 in the third before the Black & Gold scored the final three runs in the fifth and seventh innings. Johnson drove home the eventual winning run with a double in the fifth and Nelson drove home a pair with a bunt single later in the inning. Coxe laced an RBI double to cap the scoring in the seventh.
In the last eight games, Nelson is hitting .385 with 10 RBIs, four runs scored, three home runs and a double. In the last 16 games the senior quartet of Nelson, Johnson, Coxe and Gerhart have combined for a .366 batting average, 48 runs scored, 45 RBIs, 14 doubles, nine home runs, four triples, 24 walks and 13 stolen bases.
The Braves are back in action Saturday when they head north for a battle against Barton. First pitch of the doubleheader is set for noon at Jeffries Field in Wilson. The Bulldogs (19-26) have lost seven of their last eight games, but six of those losses have come by three runs or less. UNCP leads the all-time series 26-12 over Barton, including a 14-2 record in the last 16 meetings.
