GREENWOOD, S.C. – The UNC Pembroke softball team scored late to tie both games of the doubleheader on Friday afternoon, but host Lander used a home run and a wild pitch to score in the bottom of the seventh of both games and outlast the Braves by 2-1 and 4-3 scores at Doug Spears Field in Peach Belt Conference (PBC) action.
The Braves (24-24, 2-16 PBC) have now dropped 12 of their last 14 games after winning six-straight games in late March and early April. Lander (31-17, 11-9) clinched the No. 5 seed in the upcoming PBC tournament with Friday's victories and end the regular season on a 10-game winning streak, which includes a trio of league sweeps.
Freshman
Jordan Adcox logged a pair of hits in the opener, while a quartet of Braves picked up one hit apiece. Adcox's double and
Tatum Brummitt's solo home run were the lone extra-base knocks for UNCP, the latter of which knotted the game at 1-1 in the sixth.
Malerie Leviner (9-12) went the distance in the circle for the Black & Gold, while allowing just two runs on six hits. The sophomore walked two Bearcats and struck out one.
Lander's Jace Bennefield broke the scoreless tie with a solo home run in the third before Brummitt brought the contest back even in the sixth. Brianna Surrento, the first batter in the bottom of the seventh, launched the walkoff home run to center field.
The first two batters in the UNCP order accounted for four of the Braves' seven hits in game two, as Sells and
Rendi Wetherington each notched two base knocks. Sells drove in a pair of runs on a double and a groundout, while
Toni Nelson picked up the other UNCP RBI with a fourth-inning single.
Breezy Yelton (9-6) tossed all 6.1 innings in game two for the Black & Gold and the freshman surrendered just six hits and four runs (three earned). Lander's opening tally in the first inning was unearned after a UNCP error.
The Bearcats scored the game's first three runs in their opening two at-bats, but Sells' RBI double in the third cut the Black & Gold deficit to 3-1. Nelson drove home
Taylor Gerhart with a single in the fourth and Sells plated a run with a groundout in the seventh to knot the game at 3-3. But a Bearcat double followed by a single and a wild pitch in the bottom of the seventh wrapped up the game two victory.
UNCP wraps up the season with a PBC twinbill at USC Aiken on Sunday afternoon. First pitch is set for 1 p.m. at J.H. Satcher Field in Aiken, South Carolina. The Pacers (14-34, 4-14 PBC) currently occupy 10th in the league standings and lead the all-time series 40-16 over the Braves, including a 21-5 mark at home.
