CLINTON, S.C. - With a series victory
already in hand, Presbyterian College's series sweep bid came up short as
Liberty took the 6-0 win over the Blue Hose on Sunday afternoon. The Blue Hose were held to just four hits on
the day including three from leadoff hitter Tera Powell.
Before the
game, PC honored seniors Mary Gordon, Rachel Parker and Stephanie Payne for their
service and leadership through the transition to Division I play.
Both teams
stranded runners in the first inning.
Liberty (34-16, 10-5 BSC) left the bases loaded in the top half thanks
to a strikeout by Gordon to retire the side.
Gordon, who started the game in the circle, made her 100th
career pitching appearance on Sunday making her the fourth PC pitcher to go
over the century mark in appearances.
Powell opened
the bottom of the inning with a single to third base before moving to second on
a wild pitch. She was sacrificed over on
a textbook sacrifice bunt by Morgan Durham.
Powell, however, would go no further as a strikeout and a 6-3 groundout
ended the first frame for the Blue Hose.
Liberty was
quiet in the second and the Blue Hose came out quick with another leadoff
hit. This time, Brittany Howell doubled
to the gap in left center to put her in scoring position with no outs. Howell, however, would be caught trying to
steal for the second out of the inning in which no other batters reached base.
Liberty's
Jenny Law singled to open the third inning; she came around to score on a wild
play to the next batter. Kelly
Strickland hit a fly ball to right field which was dropped by Howell. Law took off, rounding second base and headed
for third. Howell gunned the ball to the
infield; it came up short of third base and skipped over Staten. The throwing error allowed Law to score the
go-ahead and eventual winning run.
PC went
quietly in the fourth and fifth innings, as did Liberty in the fourth.
In the top of
the fifth, Liberty loaded the bases with just one out. Kaylee West then singled up the middle. A quick relay throw from Powell came to the
catcher Rachel Hopper at the same time as the runner from third base. The runner collided with Hopper, causing her
to drop the ball and allowing another run to score. In all, three runs crossed on the play to
give Liberty a 4-0 lead.
A walk to open
the sixth inning, followed by Powell's third hit of the game put runners on
first and second with no outs.
Consecutive fielder's choices to third base left runners on first and
second but now with two outs. The Blue Hose
were dismissed a batter later when Katie Anderson flew out to right field to
end the inning.
Liberty tacked
on two more in the top of the seventh when Bridgett Woods and Merideth Baisden
both posted RBI singles to plate Ashlee Bensinger and West for the Flames'
fifth and sixth runs of the day.
Two quick outs
in the bottom of the seventh would put the Blue Hose behind the eight-ball
quickly. Hopper reached on a throwing
error by the third baseman, but Gordon would strikeout to end the game.
Gordon went
the distance for PC in the circle, allowing six runs, five earned off eight
Liberty hits. She struck out six batters,
walked none and hit two in the game to fall to 7-7 with the loss. Liberty's Katrina Johnson earned the win to
go to 8-4. She posted four strikeouts
and one walk in the game.
The Blue Hose will
close out the regular season on Thursday afternoon with a doubleheader at
College of Charleston starting at 3 p.m.
The set will be broadcast live on AM-860 WLBG and WLBG.com. The Big South Tournament opens on May 13 from
Coastal Carolina in Conway, S.C.
