April 18, 2007

Game 1 Box
Game 2 Box

LAURINBURG, N.C.—The St. Andrews Presbyterian College softball team wrapped up the regular season portion of the 2007 season with 5-1 and 5-4 (9-innings) doubleheader sweep of Carolinas-Virginia Athletics Conference rival Barton College on Wednesday afternoon.

The two teams will begin play in the 2007 CVAC Softball Tournament on Friday with the complete bracket being announced later tonight. The CVAC Tourney is hosted by Coker College in Hartsville, S.C., with the double-elimination tournament played out from April 20-22.

The Knights enter the conference tournament with a 15-31 overall record while the Lady Bulldogs maintain a 17-28 overall ledger. Both teams finish with 5-15 records in league play.

Game 1: St. Andrews 5, Barton 1

St. Andrews jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the opener with a pair of runs in the first on an RBI-groundout by freshman Danyell Marquez (Riverside, Calif.) and a run-producing single by freshman Kailee Munden (LaVerne, Calif.).

The Knights pulled away with a three-run fourth. Marquez and Munden started the rally by driving in the first two runs. Marquez plated the first run with a single up the middle while Munden scored the second with a groundout. SAPC added a third unearned run in the inning as Barton had five errors in game one.

Barton broke the shutout attempt in the top of the seventh when senior Jennifer Chambers (Stem, N.C.) drilled a two-out double to left that scored sophomore Claire Severt (Lexington, N.C.) for the Bulldogs lone run.

Junior Erin Haugen (Fort Mill, S.C.) had two of the Knights nine hits while adding a stolen base and crossing home plate twice. Freshman Mindy Tripp (Ayden, N.C.) was a perfect 3-for-3 with a double to lead the visitors offensively.

Junior starter Samantha Stewart (Ft. Pierce, Fla.) picked up the complete-game victory for St. Andrews. Stewart scattered six hits while striking out two in seven innings of work. Junior Jayme Beacham (Ayden, N.C.) took the loss allowing two runs on seven hits in two-plus innings.

Game 2: St. Andrews 5, Barton 4 (9 innings)

St. Andrews senior Devane Rushing hit a walk-off, two-out, two-run double off the center field fence in the bottom of the ninth inning to complete the twin bill sweep in the second game.

Tripp continued to swing a hot bat for Barton drilling a solo home run in the first inning of the nightcap. Tripp’s blast over the center field fence gave the Lady Bulldogs an early 1-0 advantage.

St. Andrews catapulted into the lead with two runs in the bottom of the third. Stewart started the scoring with a double in the left field gap that drove in junior Mika Tanji (Honolulu, Hawaii). Haugen later scored Stewart with a grounder to the shortstop lifting the Knights to a 2-1 lead. Stewart doubled the SAPC advantage to two-runs with an RBI-single in the fourth.

Tripp tied the contest back at 3-3 with her second homer of the game. Tripp’s two-run bomb to left field in the sixth eventually sent the game into extra-innings.

Barton regained a slim 1-0 lead with an unearned run in the top of the ninth. The Bulldogs looked primed to hold on after recording back-to-back outs in the bottom of the ninth but Haugen extended the inning with a single down the left field line sending Rushing up to the plate for the game-winning heroics. Rushing just missed a three-run home run as the ball bounced of the center field fence but it was deep enough to score both runners.

Stewart earned her second victory of the day after going all nine innings in the finale. Stewart had five strikeouts en route to her ninth win of the season. Sophomore Kim Page (Fayetteville, N.C.) also fanned five batters in the complete-game effort for the visitors.