Lady Flames Sweep Away Eagles, 5-3
3/19/2016 12:00:00 AM | Softball
Liberty completed a Big South series sweep of Winthrop, topping the Eagles, 5-3, on Saturday at Kamphuis Field at Liberty Softball Stadium.
The Lady Flames (14-13, 3-0 Big South) have won four games in a row overall, and posted their first three-game series sweep since March 22-23, 2013, when they took all three games from Presbyterian. Winthrop falls to 10-20 on the season, including 0-3 in Big South play following its seventh setback in a row. Liberty is off to its best start in conference play since winning its first five Big South games in 2006.
Jaclyn Amader batted 2-for-3 with a home run, two RBI and one run scored, while Tori Zavodny went 1-for-2 with two RBI and one stolen base. Madison Kotchey recorded a double, while Rylee Reynolds hit her first career triple.
Five different Eagles registered one hit apiece, with Leah Young and Toni Pancione each hitting a solo home run.
Julia DiMartino (5-5) picked up the win for the second game in a row, allowing two runs on four hits while striking out one in four innings pitched. Chandler Ball earned her second save, yielding one unearned run on one hit, with one strikeout in three innings of relief work.
Dallas King (4-5) drew the loss, giving up four runs on five hits, walking four and striking out two in three innings. Chace Helms pitched the final three innings, yielding one run on three hits while walking two.
Winthrop jumped ahead when Young homered down the left field line with two outs in the top of the first inning.
Liberty threatened in the bottom of the first, as Amader drew a one-out walk. After Kotchey reached on an error, Taylor singled to right, with Amader getting thrown out at home. King then fanned Robertson for the third out.
The Lady Flames jumped ahead with a two-run second. Zavodny drew a leadoff walk, and went to second on a sacrifice bunt. Kassidy McCoy then plated Zavodny with a single to center. King hit Cassie Gingerich with a pitch, and then gave up an RBI single to Amader. Gingerich was later thrown out at home on a squeeze play, and Amader was picked off third, ending the inning.
Winthrop's Zharne Glover and Morgan Lowers hit back-to-back singles with one out in the third inning, before a DiMartino got out of the jam via a pair of flyouts.
Kotchey hit a leadoff double during the third inning, and Taylor then walked. After a groundout sent Taylor to second, Zavodny came through with a two-run single, making it 4-1. Zavodny stole second and went to third on a throwing error, but was left there at the end of the stanza.
Pancione drew the Eagles to within two, 4-2, with a leadoff homer in the top of the fourth.
Amader answered by greeting reliever Helms with a solo shot to left center to lead off the bottom of the inning, boosting Liberty's lead to 5-2.
Ball entered the circle in relief of DiMartino to start the fifth inning. The first batter she faced, Brooke Ellison, reached second on a throwing error. Ellison was stranded at third when Ball struck out Paige Haley to end the rally.
Liberty left a runner on third base at the end of both the fifth and sixth innings, as Helms worked out of trouble both times.
Winthrop got on the board once in the top of the seventh, thanks to a pair of Liberty errors. However, Ball closed out the win, retiring the final two batters to seal the 5-3 victory and series sweep.
Liberty will head to South Carolina for its next conference series. The Lady Flames will play a doubleheader at Coastal Carolina on Friday, beginning at 4 p.m., while the teams conclude with a single game, Saturday at 2 p.m.
