Softball | 4/9/2014 9:56:00 PM

Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. -- The Methodist softball season concluded its 2014 season by splitting a doubleheader against Salem on Wednesday afternoon. The Monarchs won the opener, 9-4, and the Spirits claimed the nightcap, 3-2.
 
In game one, Methodist held a 3-0 lead through three-and-a-half innings, and tacked on five more in the fourth to go ahead by an 8-2 margin.
 
Following a leadoff triple by Sarah Stapleton in the third, Kirsten Markow plated a run with a single. Later on Markow would cross home plate on a Salem error, and Marcy McKee batted in a run with a single to make it 3-0 in favor of the Monarchs.
 
In the bottom half of the frame, the Spirits scored twice via Morgan Coleman and Kayla Kennedy run-scoring hits to draw within a single of Methodist at 3-2. The subsequent half-inning, however, saw the Monarchs widen the gap. Brittany Balderson led off with a solo home run, and Lindsay hit an RBI single. McKee brought in two runs with a double, and by the time she was tagged out for the third out, Methodist held an 8-2 advantage.
 
Stapleton (2-6) earned the victory in the pitching circle for the Monarchs, throwing 6.2 innings and surrendering four runs (3 ER) on 11 hits. She walked two and struck out one. At the plate, she went 3-for-5 with two triples and scored twice. Tippett finished with a double among her three hits and scored two runs, and McKee drove in three runs.
 
Coleman took the loss for Salem as she went 6.0 innings and gave up five runs (2 ER) on eight hits and three walks. She struck out three. Kierston Garner batted 3-for-4, and Kristi Morton had two hits and score twice.
 
In game two, the Spirits scored the first three runs, and made those stand up to walk away 3-2 winners.
 
A bases-loaded hit-by-pitch accounted for Salem's first run in the second, and two more runs crossed the plate in the third to make it a 3-0 game. Christine Bowman got Methodist on the board in the fourth with a run-scoring single, and Allyson Aycock drove in Stapleton with an RBI single to bring the Monarchs within a run at 3-2.
 
Despite Stapleton's leadoff single in the final half-inning, Methodist's season came to a close as Aycock lined out to second.
 
Stapleton batted 2-for-4 with yet another triple for the Monarchs, and Bowman added two hits. She picked up the loss as well, tossing 3.0 innings and allowing three runs on seven hits. She struck out two and walked none.
 
Lauryn Smith pitched a complete-game 7.0-inning effort for the Spirits to earn the win. She gave up two runs on eight hits and one walk and struck out one.
 
Methodist ends the spring with an 11-26 record.