 Softball |
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April 1, 2008 FAYETTEVILLE, NC - Methodist cruised to a 5-0 victory in game one before fighting back in game two to win 4-3 in the eighth inning. The Monarchs move to 28-4 overall and 10-0 in the USA South while Peace is 20-12 overall and 6-4 in the conference. The Monarchs took the 1-0 lead in the third inning when freshman Darci Martin led off with a double to left field. Freshman Tabatha Stephenson walked and with two outs, sophomore Crystal Metzger doubled down the right field line to score Martin. In the fourth inning, junior Kayla Talbert doubled to left and junior Sara Poling followed up with the bunt single for Talbert to move to third. Freshman Brittany Melton came on to run for Poling and freshman Hannah Stutts singled up the middle to score Talbert. Junior Caline Daun pinch ran for Stutts and Martin sacrificed the runners. Senior Rebekah Kelly singled up the middle to score Melton and sophomore Megan Hutson moved Kelly to second for Daun to score. Metzger singled through the left side and moved to second on the throw for Kelly to score the fifth run of the game. Peace had two hits in the sixth inning but junior Lesley Hewitt finished with the complete game shutout win. Methodist came out early in the first inning with a rally sparked by Hutson's single through the left side. Metzger reached on an error off of the sacrifice bunt for Hutson to move to third. With two outs, Talbert doubled deep to center field for Hutson and Metzger to score for the early 2-0 lead. Peace cut the lead to one after two hits in the third, but Kelly came back with a home run over the right field fence to give Methodist the 3-1 lead. The Pacers put together two runs on three hits in the fifth to tie the game at three. Both teams managed just one hit in their next two at bats sending the game to extra innings. The Monarchs' defense retired the first three batters for Peace in the eighth inning and placed pinch runner Cortney Kerns on second in the bottom of the inning. Poling put down the sacrifice bunt to move Kerns to third and Talbert hit the grounder to third that allowed Kerns to beat the throw at home for the game-winning run. Stutts pitched six innings to earn the win while Hewitt pitched the fifth and sixth innings in relief. The Monarchs will take the road this weekend to face Mary Baldwin on Saturday and Shenandoah on Sunday. |
