Softball splits with Charlotte, sweeps Appalachian State
Team moves to 14-4-1, best start in school history
Andrew High / Sports Editor
The Elon softball team had its six game winning streak
snapped Saturday, falling to UNC-Charlotte 8-7 in the first
game of a doubleheader. The Phoenix (12-4-1) took the second
game of the series 7-0 to pick up a win before a conference
match-up against Appalachian State.
The Phoenix led 6-1 after five innings in the first game.
Then the 49er bats caught fire. Charlotte (4-4) plated four
runs in the top of the sixth and got two home runs in the top
of the seventh, scoring three to get the win.
“I thought the team did a pretty good job today as far
as getting the hits,” Elon coach Patti Raduenz said.
“In that first game we didn’t close the door as
far as defensively trying to do the things we want to do:
eliminating the big inning.”
“We’re very capable of hitting like that,”
Charlotte coach Aimee DeVos said. “We’re a good
team when we’re hitting and we’re putting people
in motion. We’ve got good team speed to run on the
bases.”
Despite the defensive slip, Raduenz said she was pleased
with the way her team got its runs in both games. The Phoenix
got nine hits and drew six walks in the first game and 12
hits and two walks in the second game.
“Early in the season we scored a lot of our runs on
home runs,” she said. “I’m actually very
happy with our team to see us start manufacturing some runs.
The home runs will come, and they’ll be a nice addition
to our game as far as manufacturing runs. Manufacturing runs
gets the whole team involved and that’s where rallies
happen and you score a lot of runs. When (we) were hitting
homeruns, we were scoring maybe two or three runs a game.
When we manufacture, we’re up at seven, eight runs a
game.”
Elon’s Jessica Swearegin went 5-for-7 in the two games
of the doubleheader, getting three of her hits on bunts. The
speedy Swearegin also scored an inside-the-park homerun
earlier this year.
“For the last two years, she was our leader for stolen
bases,” Raduenz said. “She’s got a lot of
speed. From home to first she’s probably about 2.7
[seconds] and Paige Goss is probably right about that time
too.”
Meredith Gay struck out eight on her way to pitching a
complete game, two-hit shutout in the second game of the
doubleheader, leading the Phoenix to a 7-0 win. Senior Jenny
Gustin went 3-for-4 with 3 RBI. Gustin was later named
Southern Conference co-player-of-the-week along with
Chattanooga’s Melissa Ramirez. Designated Player Meagan
Borgaard drove in two.
“She had a fantastic outing for us,” Raduenz
said of Gay. “She needed a game like that under her
belt where she could take control. And she had all the
control in the world in this game. She did a great job
keeping the hitters off balance.”
Gay, a freshman, said the game was her best college outing.
“I was just going back and forth inside-outside,
keeping the hitters off balance,” Gay said. “You
set them up inside and then you bring it outside and usually
that’s the strikeout pitch.”
Gay’s record sits at 2-2. With pitchers Jennifer Lamb
and Whitney Meeks at 5-0 and 6-1 respectively, Raduenz said
her team could have the makings of a dominant pitching staff.
“She’s a freshman and she just needs to learn a
thing or two as far as what she can aspire to,” Raduenz
said. “She’ll have her ups and downs for us and I
hope that her ups happen more often than her downs.
She’s still learning and she’s definitely a
positive addition to our pitching staff and will see a lot of
action for us.”
Pitching again proved critical in the Phoenix’s first
Southern Conference match-up. The team beat Appalachian State
1-0 and 8-0 in another doubleheader Tuesday afternoon. Jen
Lamb picked up her fifth win, going the distance in the first
game. Meeks went five innings in the second game, striking
out nine to get her sixth victory of the season.
Meredith Miley helped the Phoenix secure the win in the
first game, scoring on a passed ball in the bottom of the
sixth inning. In the day’s second game, Jennifer Massey
and Natalie Layden drove in two runs each, going 1-for-3 and
2-for-2 respectively.
The Phoenix is in action again this weekend when it hosts
the Elon Phoenix Classic. The Classic will feature match-ups
against Stony Brook and Seton Hall.
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