February 14, 2009
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AIKEN, S.C.—Junior Danyell Marquez (Riverside, Calif.) hit a grand slam that helped propel the St. Andrews Presbyterian College softball team to a 10-6 victory in the first game of a Southeast Region doubleheader at the University of South Carolina at Aiken on Saturday afternoon before dropping the nightcap 7-1.
The Lady Knights (1-3) record their first win of the young season and will return home for a non-conference twin bill against local rival Fayetteville State University on Sunday at 1 p.m. The Pacers maintain a .500 record at 4-4.
Junior Sarah Applegarth (Gainesville, Ga.) had another impressive performance going 4-for-6 from the plate with four RBI and three runs scored. Applegarth -- who leads SAPC with seven RBI in four games -- tossed a six-strikeout, complete-game victory in the opener.
Marquez finished with a pair of extra base hits including her first home run of the season. Senior Megan Riggs (Hubert, N.C.) and sophomore Jasmine Dobbin (Pikeville, N.C.) both collected three hits on the afternoon. Dobbin swiped two bases and scored three times.
Sophomore Lauren Locklear led the Pacers with an astounding 5-for-6 day, recording two doubles and three runs. She also had one run batted in and a stolen base. Junior Toni Flessate went 3-for-5 in the two games for a .500 batting average, recording a RBI.
GAME ONE: St. Andrews 10, USC Aiken 6
Box Score; Play-By-Play
St. Andrews led the entire game scoring 10 runs on eight hits including two home runs and two doubles. Riggs ripped a two-run double through the right side of the infield in the second inning to start the Knights scoring outburst.
Marquez took a pitch from junior Kathleen Nichols deep to right-center field that emptied the bases in ‘grand’ style. Marquez --who led SAPC with six home runs in 2007 -- collected her first homer of the year with the grand slam.
In the fourth inning, Applegarth took another pitch from freshman Lauren Rickabaugh over the center field fence for a three-run shot to put the Knights up 9-4. Marquez and Applegarth each registered two hits in the first game.
The Pacers attempted a comeback in the fifth inning but came up short with just scoring the two runs. Senior Jessica Strickland led off the inning with her first home run of the season and her 29th in a Pacer uniform. Flessate later hit a single that allowed Locklear to score, who had earlier doubled to right field.
Nichols recorded the loss in the game for the Pacers as she went two and one-third innings, giving up six runs on three hits. She also struck out two batters but walked three.
Applegarth (1-1) received her first win of the season, as she went the whole seven innings. She gave up the six runs on 10 hits and struck out six batters.
GAME TWO: USC Aiken 7, St. Andrews 1
Box Score; Play-By-Play
The Pacers came out swinging in the second game as they got and early four-run lead with a pair of runs in the first two innings and never looked back to prevent the sweep.
Sophomore Candice Hardee hit a two-run home run in the first inning that eventually proved to be the winning hit for the Pacers. That was Hardee’s first round tripper of the season and fourth as a Pacer.
The Knights only run would come in the third when Applegarth plated Dobbin with a single.
The Pacers added three more runs in the fourth inning to pull away for the six-run victory.
Freshman starter Ashley Disque (Prince Frederick, Md.) was tagged with the loss in the complete-game effort. Disque (0-2) only allowed two earned runs on 10 hits as SAPC committed four errors that allowed USCA to score most of its runs. She walked three and fanned two.
Flessate recorded her third win of the season, pitching seven innings. She gave up one run on six hits, while striking out four and walking one batter.
Dobbin, Applegarth, and Riggs accounted for all six of the Knights hits in the nightcap with two hits apiece.
NOTE:Special thanks for USC Aiken Sports Information Office for contributing majority of the above release. 
