MOC softball splits with Newberry

Published in Sports on February 18, 2007 2:10 AM

• Print
• Email

NEWBERRY, S.C. -- Jenny Jackson belted a two-run home run and notched the game-winning RBI with a bases-loaded walk as Mount Olive doubled up Newberry (S.C.) College 8-4 on Saturday afternoon.

Newberry claimed the nightcap 3-1.

Jackson's sixth-inning home run pulled the Trojans within 3-2. The Lady Indians got one run back on McKenzie Phillips' RBI single up the middle.

Mount Olive pushed six runs across in the top half of the seventh. Courtney Wallace singled, Kat Cahoon reached on an error and Morgan Whaley loaded the sacks.

Tiffanie Pittman rapped a two-RBI single which forged a 4-4 deadlock. Bailey Harrell walked to load the bases again and Jackson walked to bring home Whaley. Jamie Pruitt smacked an RBI hit, while Wallace and Cahoon each supplied an RBI to finish off the six-run uprising.

Senior Krystal Bourne picked up the mound win relief of starter Ashley Raynor. Christine Ermer threw the seventh to keep the Trojans perfect in three road contests.

Two first-inning errors jump-started the Lady Indians' offense in the nightcap. Kat Hammond's two-RBI single gave Newberry a 2-0 lead that it would not relinquish.

The Lady Indians loaded the bases against MOC senior Shawna Cowdrey in the second inning. Ginna Dean collected an RBI single and Sarah Powell plated Amy Jarrell with a sacrifice fly.

Mount Olive (3-1 overall) climbed within 4-2 on Pittman's ground-rule RBI double and Whaley's fourth-inning, solo home run. Newberry pitcher Christina Kirby (3-2) threw three consecutive scoreless innings. She scattered eight hits, walked two and struck out four Trojans in a complete-game effort.

Cowdrey endured the pitching loss.

MOC sweeps Lander

GREENWOOD, S.C. -- The Mount Olive softball team was anxious to get its 2007 season started -- and it showed.

Bailey Harrell's two-run double capped a three-run eighth inning and Krystal Bourne allowed only one hit in 52/3 scoreless innings of relief as Mount Olive completed a sweep with a 7-4 extra-inning victory over Peach Belt Conference member Lander in game two of the Trojans' season-opening softball doubleheader Friday afternoon.

The Trojans posted a 6-0 shutout in the opener as Jenny Jackson tossed six shutout innings and Courtney Wallace broke a scoreless tie in the fourth inning with a two-out, two-run double.

"We had great pitching and timely hitting tonight," said Trojan head softball coach Jaime Kylis-Higginbotham. "We played top quality ball against a top quality ballclub."

In the first game, Mount Olive (2-0) was held scoreless through three innings, but Jackson (1-0) kept Lander scoreless on one hit with three strikeouts through three.

Mount Olive broke the game open in the top of the seventh as Wallace, Kat Cahoon and Erin Wilson hit consecutive singles to load the bases. Two Lander errors and Harrell's sacrifice fly led to four unearned runs and a six-run lead.

Christine Ermer pitched the seventh inning, overcoming a lead-off walk with a strikeout, a ground out and an infield pop-up to seal the win.

Jackson struck out five, walked one and allowed three hits.

In the nightcap, Jackson gave the Trojans an early lead with a two-run homer in the top of the first inning. Mount Olive added a run in the third on three consecutive walks and an rbi-ground out by Jamie Pruitt to extend the lead to 3-0.

A bizarre defensive play in the bottom of the second helped Trojan starter Shauna Cowdrey keep Lander scoreless after the Bearcats advanced a runner to third. A sharp line drive hit off the leg of third baseman Morgan Whaley and into the glove of Cowdrey, who had just turned towards third.

Lander took the lead with a four-run third inning, highlighted by Melissa Ryals' rbi-double and Daisy Stewart's two-run homer. Bourne (1-0) took over with one out and survived an infield error to get out of the inning on a pair of fly outs.