Brevard, N.C. – The Brevard College women’s softball team got back on the winning track on Friday, sweeping the Lady Cougars of Mountain State University, 1-0 and 11-3, on what was a frigid afternoon.

 

With the two-game sweep the Tornados improve to 8-6 on the season.

 

 

In game one, the Tornados rode the right arm of starting pitcher Jennifer Gift to a 1-0 victory.

 

In what proved to be a pitcher’s duel, the Tornados scored one run in the bottom of the fifth which proved to be the game winner.

 

BC catcher Katie Brown started the inning off with a single to left field. After Amber Clontz laid down a sacrifice bunt to move Brown to second, first-baseman Sarah Carlos reached on a fielder’s choice. On the play, Brown scored on an errant throw from the pitcher to third, to put the Tornados on the board with a 1-0 lead.

 

Sophomore Jennifer Gift (5-4) went all seven innings for the complete game shutout. Gift and allowed only four hits while striking out three over the seven innings of play, as the BC defense played strong behind her with no errors.

 

Katie Brown was 1-3 with a run scored, while the other two BC hits came off the bats of Katie Thornburg and Sarah Carlos.

 

For Mountain State University, four different players had their four hits for the game, with Alexandria Albright going 1-2 with a double.

 

 

 

The Tornados completed the double-header sweep by defeating the Lady Cougars by the run rule 11-3 in the sixth inning in the second game on Friday afternoon.

 

The Tornados used a five run first to take an early lead and jump on top of the Lady Cougars. 

 

In the first, shortstop Kristina Clayton singled to center and then advanced to second on a wild pitch. Third-baseman Jennifer Brown then singled to drive in Clayton and put BC on the scoreboard. Brown then moved from first to third on two wild pitches by the Lady Cougars’ pitcher before Katie Brown and Beth Brooker drew back to back walks to load the bases for the Tornados with two outs.

 

Freshman Sarah Carlos then singled to drive in Jennifer Brown from third, followed by a single by Amber Clontz that cleared the bases and put the Tornados up 5-0 after one.

 

Mountain State tried to battle back as Sarah Rapp hit a homerun in the top of the second to cut the lead to 5-1.

 

However, the Tornados outscored the Lady Cougars 6-2 in the final four innings of play to win by the run rule in the sixth inning.

 

Senior Aimee Rogers (3-2) got the win, going 6.0 innings allowing three runs on high hits and striking out three MSU batters.

 

The loss went to Brianna Hammond, who gave up eight runs on five hits and six walks in two innings of work.

 

At the plate, the Tornados were led by Amber Clontz, who was 3-4 with two doubles and four RBIs. Sarah Carlos was 2-3 with a triple, an RBI and three runs scored, while Kristina Clayton was 2-3 with a double, two RBIs and one run scored.

 

Mountain State was led by Alexandria Albright, who was 2-3 with a double and an RBI, while Jennifer Sloan was 2-3 with a run scored. Sarah Rapp was 1-3 with a homerun.

 

The Tornados will next play on Friday, March 7, when they will host the Lady Crusaders of North Greenville University at the Brevard College Softball Field at 2 p.m. 

 

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