Hickory, N.C. – The Brevard College women’s softball team played on the road for the second consecutive day on Sunday afternoon, as the Tornados dropped both games of a double-header to the Lady Bears’ of Lenoir-Rhyne in Hickory, N.C. Lenoir-Rhyne won the first game 8-0 and used a late homerun in the second game to edge the Tornados for the 4-3 win.

 

With the L-R sweep, the Tornados fall to 8-16 on the season, while the Lady Bears’ improve to 29-10 overall.

 

In game one, the Tornados struggled at the plate, picking up only one hit for the game.

 

Lenoir-Rhyne scored a run in the second, third and fourth innings highlighted by a Kat Rivers solo homerun in the second to pull ahead of the Tornados 3-0 heading into the fifth inning of play.

 

The Lady Bears’ then put the game away in the bottom of the sixth, pushing across five runs in the inning, with four of those runs coming by way of a Taylor Queen grand slam.

L-R senior Meredith O’Connor (18-7) picked up the complete game shutout win, as she allowed one hit while striking out 11 BC hitters over the six innings of play.

 

The loss went to BC senior Aimee Rogers (3-7), as she gave up eight runs on 10 hits in 5.2 innings in the circle.

 

Designated player Amber Clontz had the lone hit of the game for the Tornados, a single up the middle in the third inning.

 

For the Lady Bears’, right-fielder Brittany Cherry was 3-3 with an RBI and two runs scored. Fellow outfielder Taylor Queen was 2-3 with a grand slam, a double and five total RBIs for the game.

 

Having been held to only one hit and game one, the Tornados came out of the gates swinging and game two, jumping out to an early 2-0 lead.

 

BC scored two runs in the top of the first, as freshman first-baseman Sarah Carlos and sophomore outfielder Beth Brooker both had an RBI single in the inning.

 

The Lady Bears’ scored a run and each of the third, fourth and fifth innings on six hits and a BC throwing error to pull ahead of the Tornados 3-2 heading into the final two innings of play.

 

BC knotted the score up at 3-3 in the top of the sixth as Brooker scored on a throwing error by the L-R catcher.

With the score still tied up at 3-3 heading into the bottom of the seventh inning, the Lady Bears’ Noel Belk erased all the thoughts of extra innings with a lead-off homerun to left field to give the Lady Bears’ the 4-3 win.

The win went to Lenoir-Rhyne’s O’Connor (19-7), who grabbed her second win of the day in a relief appearance for the Bears. O’Conner went 3.0 innings in the circle, allowing one run, which was unearned, on two BC hits while striking out five.

 

BC hurler Jennifer Gift (5-9) was saddled with the loss, as she allowed four runs, three of which were earned, on seven L-R hits while striking out three.

Offensively, the Tornados were led by freshman Sarah Carlos, who was 2-3 with a double and an RBI, and Kristin Tettemer, who was 2-3 with a double and a run scored for the contest.

 

At the plate for L-R, Cherry was 2-4, while Belk was 1-4 with a solo homerun in the seventh to give the Lady Bears’ the win.

 

The Tornados (8-16) will continue their tough SAC schedule play on Wednesday, April 2, as BC will play host to the Lady Bulldogs of Wingate University at 2 p.m. on the Brevard College Softball Field on the campus of Brevard College.

 

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