PEMBROKE, N.C. Playing host to Division III Methodist softball, D-II UNC Pembroke snagged both ends of a non-conference doubleheader Saturday afternoon. The Braves won Game 1 by a score of 9-0 after five innings and won the second game, 11-3, in six innings.
THE ESSENTIALS
Final scores: UNC Pembroke def. Methodist, 9-0 (5 Inn.); UNC Pembroke def. Methodist, 11-3 (6)
Records: Methodist 1-7; UNC Pembroke 10-4
Location: UNCP Softball Field; Pembroke, N.C.
HOW IT HAPPENED
- Methodist cut the deficit to 4-3 in the fifth inning of Game 2. Caitlyn Holland singled to lead off and she advanced on a passed ball before Heather Tsapp's double scored her. Bethany Junker scored the team's third run of the game, thanks to an infield error on the Braves. Unfortunately, a groundout prevented a true Methodist comeback as the bases were left loaded.
- Taylor Jones' double made it a 3-1 game in the third inning. After a Claire Cummings double and a Junker single, Jones' hit scored Cummings but the Monarchs' chance to tie ended with Jones at second and Junker at third.
- UNC Pembroke exploded for seven runs combined in the bottom of the fifth and sixth innings to invoke the mercy rule. The Braves scored seven off of six hits and an error.
- The nine runs that UNC Pembroke scored in the first two innings of Game 1 were proceeded by two innings of quiet before the fifth-inning ending. The Braves recorded all seven of their hits in those first two innings before Alyssa Barwick cleaned up with six quick outs in seven UNCP at-bats.
- Methodist had runners on base in four of the five innings of the first game. Junker opened the game with a lead-off single. The Monarchs' chance to avoid the mercy rule came in the fifth inning with Cummings at third base and Tsapp at second.
- Junker led the team with three hits for the day. Tsapp, Cummings, and Liz Schmitz were the other Monarchs to record a hit in both games.
UP NEXT
Methodist travels to Ferrum, Va. on Monday, March 8 for a non-conference doubleheader against the Panthers of Ferrum College. First pitch scheduled for 2 p.m.
