Softball | 2/23/2014 5:38:00 PM

Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 LYNCHBURG, Va. -- The Methodist softball team was swept in a doubleheader at Lynchburg College on Sunday afternoon. Methodist dropped the opener, 5-0, before falling, 8-5, in the nightcap.
 
In the first game, the Hornets (4-2) used a four-run fifth inning to take a 5-0 lead en route to the shutout. Hope Johnson (1-1) limited MU (0-6) to just four hits with four walks and six strikeouts in posting the complete-game shutout.
 
Holding a 1-0 lead entering the bottom of the fifth, Kayla St. John led off the frame with a solo home run to left for a 2-0 lead. Back-to-back bunt singles by Jessi Hall and Melanie Tenney gave LC runners on the corners with no outs and Danielle Powell laced a single to center that scored both runs for a 4-0 lead. Powell later scored on an error by the Monarchs to make if 5-0 before three straight groundouts ended the inning.
 
In the sixth inning, the Monarchs had two runners on with just one out, but a groundout followed by a foul out ended MU's threat. Johnson then set down the Monarchs in order in the seventh for the complete game.
 
Brittany Miller took the loss for Methodist, allowing five runs (4 ER) on nine hits and a walk in 4.0 innings. Amanda Dickson came on in relief and allowed a hit and a walk in 2.0 scoreless innings.
 
Sarah Stapleton was 1-for-3 at the plate for Methodist. Heather Williams, Natalie High, and Krista Zentner all singled as well, and Lindsay Tippett drew a pair of walks.
 
For Lynchburg, Powell was 2-for-3 with a pair of RBI and a run, and Nicole Riley was 2-for-3 with a run. Hall finished 1-for-3 with a walk and a run scored.
 
In the nightcap, Lynchburg scored five runs in the top of the first, and then thwarted a late MU rally.  Hall led off the game with single and Tenny followed with a home run to left off of MU's Christine Bowman for a 2-0 lead. After a single by Powell, back-to-back doubles by Skylar Seals and St. John made it a 4-0 lead and chased Bowman before she could record an out. Emily Hester replaced Bowman, and recorded the first out of the inning with a groundout that moved St. John to third. An RBI single by Amber Ingram made it 5-0 before Hester was able to get out of the inning without any further damage.
 
Methodist got a pair of runs back in the second inning on Allyson Aycock's two-run home run to left, but LC added a run in the third and two more in the sixth to take an 8-2 lead.
 
In the seventh, Griffin led off with a single and was replaced on the bases by Brittany Balderson. Following a fielder's choice which erased Balderson, Natalie High gave MU runners on first and second when she got on thanks to a Hornet fielding error. Aycock then walked to load the bases, and Zentner hit a two-run double to left center to make it 8-4 with one out. Stapleton made it 8-5 with an RBI groundout, before Brittany Miller ended the game with a swinging strikeout.
 
Aycock was 1-for-2 with two RBI and two runs scored for Methodist. Griffin finished 1-for-2 , and Zentner was 1-for-3 with a pair of RBI. Bowman (0-1) took the loss in the circle, surrendering five runs on five hits without recording an out. Hester pitched 5.1 innings in relief. She gave up three runs on eight hits with a strikeout.
 
For Lynchburg, Ingram (2-0) earned the win. She limited the Monarchs to two runs (0 ER) on one hit and a walk with six strikeouts in 6.0 innings. Tenny finished 2-for-4 with four RBI and a run scored. St. John was 2-for-3 with a pair of runs, and Lauren Smith was 2-for-3 with an RBI and a run scored.
 
Methodist will return to the field next Sunday when it begins play on its spring break trip in Clermont, Fla. Methodist will take on Illinois College at 1:00 pm.