Catawba Sweeps Softball in SAC Opener
The Mars Hill softball team was swept by Catawba in the South Atlantic Conference opener for both teams, dropping the opening game 4-0 and 6-0 in the nightcap.
SALISBURY, N.C. - The Mars Hill softball team was swept by Catawba in the South Atlantic Conference opener for both teams, dropping the opening game 4-0 and 6-0 in the nightcap. Mars Hill drops to 12-8 on the season and 0-2 in the league, while Catawba improves to 17-6 on the year and 2-0 in conference play.
Game 1: Catawba 4, Mars Hill 0
Mars Hill was held to four hits by reigning SAC Pitcher of the Year Carley Tysinger in their first conference game of the 2014 season.
Catawba got on the board in the first inning as Tysinger scored on an Emily Huneycutt double for a 1-0 Indian lead. In the third inning, Kristen Stinnard led off with a double and advanced to third on a groundout. A Lion error allowed Stinnard to score for a 2-0 Catawba lead after three innings.
Mars Hill threatened in the fourth inning as Brittany Gibson led off with a double, followed by a pair of strikeouts. Tysinger walked Cori Dew and Alesha Peek to load the bases, but got a flyout to end the inning.
Natalie Naturile led off the sixth with a single and scored on Morgan Brann's two-run home run in the sixth for a 4-0 Catawba lead.
Gibson and Dew each doubled for the lions, with Robyn Stanek and Jamie Booze each reaching on singles.
Tysinger earned her 11th win of the season, allowing four hits with three strikeouts in seven innings. Taylor Hussey took the loss after she allowed four runs, three earned on six hits with three walks and three strikeouts in six innings.
Game 2: Catawba 6, Mars Hill 0
A four-run first inning was too much to overcome as the Lions were shut out in consecutive games for the first time this season.
Catawba pushed four runs across in the first inning on an Emily Huneycutt sacrifice fly, a single from Taylor Adams and a two-run Gina Gerone double.
In the Mars Hill third, Erin Vickery worked a one out walk and advanced to second on a Jamie Booze single. Vickery and Booze advanced a base on a Lauren Saller groundout, but Huneycutt got out of the inning unscathed thanks to a flyout.
Catawba added a run in the fourth inning as Natalie Naturile reached on a leadoff walk, and scored on a Lion error with one out. The Indians capped the scoring in the sixth as Kristen Stinnard scorroed on a wild pitch. Stinnard reached on a one out single.
Booze went two-for-three with a pair of singles, while Jamie Hockaday went two-for-four with two singles. Robyn Stanek, Aleshia Peek and Cori Dew each had a hit.
Huneycutt earned her second win of the season, allowing three hits with two walks and three striekouts in four innings. Katie Smith allowed four hits in three scoreless innings of relief to earn the save.
Booze was charged with her first loss of the season after she allowed five runs, four earned, on six hits with three walks and a strikeout in four innings. Allie Carrigan allowed a run on two hits in two innings of relief.
Mars Hill hosts No. 14 Anderson in a doubleheader beginning at 2 p.m. Wednesday.
