April 8, 2009

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LAURINBURG, N.C.—Junior Brianna Shurtleff (Colton, Calif.) hit a walk-off single in the eighth inning of the opener and senior Tiffany Capone (Jacksonville, N.C.) hit a walk-off sacrifice fly in the seventh inning of the nightcap as the St. Andrews Presbyterian College softball team swept Conference Carolinas rival Belmont Abbey College, 5-4 & 6-5, on Wednesday afternoon.

Junior Brianna Shurtleff (pictured) won the first game for St. Andrews with a walk-off single in the bottom of the eighth.

The Lady Knights swept their second straight conference doubleheader in as many days to move to 18-21 overall an 8-6 in the league. SAPC moves up to fifth place in the conference standings heading into the last week of the regular season. The Crusaders maintain 9-31 and 3-15 ledgers.

Junior Kailee Munden (LaVerne, Calif.) and sophomore Jasmine Dobbin (Pikeville, N.C.) both went 4-for-7 for the Royal Blue & White. Junior Nicole Bailey (Lumberton, N.C.) added three hits for the Knights. Junior Sarah Applegarth (Gainesville, Ga.) picked up the win in both games allowing one earned run over 11 1/3 innings of work. Applegarth (13-8) had five strikeouts

Freshman Gina Antonucci (Lexington, N.C.) led the Crusaders with four hits and two RBI while senior Dani Beres (Greenville, N.C.) knocked in a team-high three runs on a trio of hits.

St. Andrews visits non-conference Francis Marion University (Florence, S.C.) on Friday at 2 p.m. Belmont Abbey concludes its regular season at league rival Pfeiffer University (Misenheimer, N.C.) on Thursday at 1 p.m.

GAME ONE: St. Andrews 5, Belmont Abbey 4 (8 innings)
Box Score; Play-By-Play

Belmont Abbey scored two runs in the fourth inning to take a 4-3 lead but the Knights tied the score in the fifth inning and eventually won the opener, 5-4, in extra innings on Shurtleff’s heroics.

The Crusaders jumped to a two-run lead as the first four batters of the game had base hits. Antonucci led off with a double to left; senior Katie Hobbs (Matthews, N.C.) followed with a bunt single; and Beres and junior Tara Ruebel (West Forsyth, N.C.) drove in the runs with back-to-back seeing-eyed singles past the diving shortstop.

SAPC answered back and took their first lead with three runs in the second. Bailey supplied a bunt single that drove in Munden and junior Morgan Farroll (Newton Grove, N.C.) followed with a two-run double down the left field line.

The Abbey catapulted back into the lead with a pair of runs in the fourth that was highlighted by a run producing double by Beres. Antonucci had three hits and scored two runs while Beres had two hits and two RBI.

Applegarth deadlocked the score at 4-4 with a double that scored Dobbin, who led off the fifth with a bunt single.

After two scoreless innings, St. Andrews was able to keep Belmont Abbey from scoring in the first extra frame. The Crusaders sac bunted the international tiebreaker rule runner to third base to start the eighth inning but Applegarth came up with a big strikeout and then a groundout to extinguish the threat.

Applegarth was then placed on second base to start the eighth. The Abbey was able to get the first two outs but Shurtleff ended the game with a single through the left side that drove in Applegarth.

Dobbin, Applegarth, and Bailey all had two hits in the first game.

GAME TWO: St. Andrews 6, Belmont Abbey 5
Box Score; Play-By-Play

Belmont Abbey rallied from a three-run deficit with four runs in the top of the seventh to take a one run lead but St. Andrews fought back with two runs in the home half to complete the sweep of Wednesday’s twin bill with a 6-5 victory in the finale that was capped by Capone’s sac fly.

Munden had a big game for SAPC going 3-for-3 with a home run, triple, and a single.

Munden started the scoring in the second inning with a triple to deep right field and eventually scoring on a sacrifice fly by Harris. After Belmont Abbey tied the game with an unearned run in the top of the fourth, the Knights regained a lead on back-to-back bombs to lead off the bottom of the fourth. Marquez crushed a monstrous home run to left field and Munden followed with a deep shot over the left-center field fence. Marquez has a team-high seven home runs while Munden’s long ball was her first homer of the season.

St. Andrews added an extra run in the fifth inning on a sac fly by Applegarth before the Crusaders rallied back with four runs in their last at-bat. Antonucci started the scoring rally with a two-run double to left. Hobbs followed with a triple to right that scored Antonucci. Beres then tied the score with a single up the middle that plated Hobbs.

The Knights answered by putting the first two batters on base before an error loaded the bases for Capone, who then hit a fly ball to center field that Dobbin was able to tag up on at third and score the game-winning run. Dobbin was 2-for-3 with two runs and a stolen base. Dobbin ranks second in the conference with 23 stolen bases on the year.