WINGATE, N.C. - The Brevard College softball team dropped a 3-1 extra-innings affair at Wingate on Saturday afternoon before the Bulldogs took the final game of the doubleheader 17-0.
Both starting pitchers were dominant in the day's first game, each going the distance and combining to allow just seven hits. Wingate's (24-16, 11-7 SAC) Stacey Houser earned her conference-leading 17th win of the season by allowing a single run on three hits and recorded four strikeouts.
Jamie Hrobak rebounded from a difficult first inning to give Brevard (9-19, 2-12 SAC) a chance to pull out a victory. Hrobak gave up two walks and pitched around two defensive errors to strand the bases with a pair of strikeouts and a fly ball to center field.
The Bulldogs struck for an unearned run in the third inning to open the scoring. After seeing 12 of its first 13 batters fail to reach safely, Brevard finally broke through in the sixth to even the score at a run apiece. Lauren Parker redirected the first pitch she saw from Houser into the gap in left center for a one-out double and advanced to third on her team-high 11th stolen base of the year. Kinny Davis poked a 2-1 offering to the right side of the infield to score the tying run.
Brevard went quietly in the seventh, but Hrobak forced extra innings by allowing just one baserunner over the final two frames. The Tornados got the tying run to third with one out via the international tiebreak rule in the eighth but were unable to score. Wingate found itself in the same situation in the bottom of the frame until Hrobak induced a popout for the second out.
Starting third baseman Katie McLaurin was the final batter in the inning for Wingate. With pinch runner Meagan Martucci on third base, McLaurin blasted a 1-2 pitch from Hrobak over the fence in left field for a walk-off home run in extra innings.
Wingate would not need extra innings to dispatch of Brevard in the second game. The Bulldogs pounced on Brevard's pitching staff for eight runs in the first inning and nine in the second to notch a 17-0 victory in a contest that was shortened to five innings.
Pitcher Miranda Paul kept the Tornados' hitters off balance all afternoon, losing a no-hit bid in the fifth inning on a sharp single to right center by Brittan Miller. Miller was also the recipient of the only free pass allowed by Paul and was the only Tornado to reach base safely.
With eight conference games to play, Brevard faces a steep uphill climb to claim one of the eight South Atlantic Conference Tournament bids. The Tornados will attempt to rebound quickly with a pair of games at Lincoln Memorial tomorrow afternoon. First pitch is scheduled for 2:00 p.m.
