FAYETTEVILLE, N.C.  Visiting Ferrum used big fifth innings to complete a doubleheader sweep against Methodist softball, 6-4 and 14-6, in non-conference action Saturday afternoon.

In the first game, the Panthers scored four runs in the fifth to recover from a 3-1 deficit. In the nightcap, Ferrum turned an 8-5 advantage into an eventual 14-6, six-inning win, after crossing five runners home in the fifth.

Sarah Davis had two hits in each of the games. In Game 1, Heather Tsapp scored three runs, belted two hits, including a home run and drew two walks. In the second game, Taylor Jones was one of four Monarchs with two hits but she recorded a team-high two doubles with three RBIs.

THE ESSENTIALS
Final score: Ferrum def. Methodist, 6-4; Ferrum def. Methodist, 14-6 (6 Inn.)
Records: Methodist 5-5; Ferrum 4-0
Location: Don Price Field; Fayetteville, N.C.

HOW IT HAPPENED

• After Tsapp tied up Game 1 with a homer in the second inning, the Monarchs led 3-1 in the fourth following RBIs from Taylor Jacobs and Carleigh Haywood.
• It was a bad stretch in the fifth inning of the first game for Methodist pitching. The inning featured three singles and subsequent steal, followed by a double, a single, and a sacrifice fly that all resulted in a 5-3 Ferrum lead.
• The Monarchs had the game-tying run on base in both the sixth and seventh innings. The sixth ended with Haywood on third and Davis on first and the game ended with Reagan Parks on second and Tsapp on first.
• Up until the fifth inning of Game 2, the Monarchs had been able to almost match Ferrum run-for-run. Both teams scored three runs in the first and two in the fourth. The lone exception was the one run the Panthers scored in the second inning.
• Davis singled to start the nightcap, followed by consecutive doubles from Bethany Junker and Jones, which scored two. Jones rounded the bases later in the inning for the tying run.
• Junker and Jones returned with consecutive doubles in the fourth which scored Jacobs and Davis to cut the deficit to 6-5.
• Ferrum broke the second game open in the fifth, converting five hits into five runs for a 11-5 lead. The Panthers added three runs on three hits in the sixth and the Monarchs were unable to avoid the mercy rule ending after scoring only one run in the bottom.

STAT FACTS

• Along with Davis and Jones, Junker and Jacobs also registered two hits in the second game.
• The Monarch batters kept their strikeouts to a minimum, recording just four punch outs in each game.
• In the two-run game, Methodist led nine runners stranded.
• Ferrum's Lyndsey Sears recorded three hits in each game and totaled five RBIs on the day. Sears also earned the win in the pitcher's circle in the second game and the save for the first game.

UP NEXT
The Monarchs face Piedmont International University on Thursday, February 27 at Price Field in a non-conference doubleheader beginning at 3 p.m.