CHARLOTTE, N.C. - Timely hitting and stellar pitching lifted the Anderson softball team to a sweep of a South Atlantic Conference twin bill at Queens, 4-1 and 7-1, Saturday afternoon at Park Road Park.
Anderson (31-11, 12-6 SAC) closed its regular-season road schedule with the sweep, while claiming sole possession of second place in the South Atlantic Conference standings. Queens (10-30, 5-13 SAC) has dropped six of its last seven decisions, with the Trojans snapping a four-game conference skid by claiming their fourth straight win past the Royals.
Game #1
Anderson 4, Queens 1
Junior Molly Child hammered her sixth home run of the season in the
first inning and finished with two RBI, while freshman Rachael
Barefield also drove in two runs with a first inning single and
added another single and a walk. Senior Bri Cason was 2-for-4 in
the opener and crossed the plate once.
Freshman Chelsea Jones improved to 12-4 on the season after limiting Queens to a pair of singles and one earned run over seven full innings of work. The right-hander struck out seven batters and issued just one free pass. Jones, who posted a perfect game nearly two weeks ago at Tusculum, tossed six perfect innings against the Royals after a tumultuous first inning.
After Neidigh led off the game with her 13th walk of the season, Child followed with a two-run homer to provide Jones with all the support she would need on the afternoon. One out later, Jones and Cason followed with back-to-back singles and both scored when Barefield pulled a single through the left side to give the Trojans an early 4-0 lead.
Queens capitalized on a pair of singles, a walk, a wild pitch and a hit batter to post their lone run of the contest with two outs in the bottom of the opening frame.
The Trojans threatened to add to their lead with two on and two out in the third inning, but were unable to push another run across, while Jones fanned six batters and retired nine Royals on fly balls over the final six innings.
Game #2
Anderson 7, Queens 1
Freshman Cailah Niles boosted her league-leading home run tally to
16 with a pair of round-trippers versus the Royals, while finishing
the nightcap with two runs scored and three RBI. Senior Rebecca
Martin, who was 3-for-5 on the day, posted a single and a
bases-loaded double in the nightcap.
Sophomore hurler Lauren Rudesheim (12-6) notched the complete-game win, while scattering just five hits and allowing one run. She struck out five Royals and walked just one.
Niles snapped a scoreless tie with a two-out solo home run in the top of the fourth inning, with the Trojans adding four more runs in the top of the sixth inning on Cason's RBI-single and Martin's three-run double.
Rudesheim held the Royals to just a single through the first five innings before freshman Abby Lathan posted a lead-off home run to open the sixth inning.
Niles' second homer of the afternoon boosted AU's advantage to 7-1, with Queens threatening in their final at-bat by getting two runners on with just one out before Rudesheim induced back-to-back infield pop-ups to end the game.
Anderson is slated to close out its regular season with a
four-game homestand, with the Trojans opening the four-game set by
welcoming Brevard to Smethers Field. First-pitch versus the
Tornados is scheduled for Wednesday at 2 p.m.
