BETHANY - Brooklyn Sparkman earned a pair of wins while
Caitlyn Curlee hit a solo shot in a game one and then came through with the game winning sacrifice fly in game two to lead the Southern Nazarene softball team to a 2-0 and 3-2 (8) sweep of Arkansas-Monticello on Friday afternoon at the Cypert Athletic Complex.
Against a tough squad, SNU relied on a solid pitching and defense, to go with timely hitting, to get back on the right track and take two.
In game one,
Peyton Robinson started with a single and was moved to second on a sac bunt from
Jacey James.
Mahina Sauer singled to left to move James to third and that allowed for a ground out from
Skye Ah Yat to score Robinson and give SNU a 1-0 advantage early on.
Brooklyn Sparkman was in the zone form the start. After the first three batters all got the count to 3-2, but were eventually retired, Sparkman settled in and spun a gem. Keeping the Cotton Blossoms off balance throughout most of the contest. The telling stat was Sparkman did not allow any batters to reach on a walk.
As the contest continued, Curlee stepped into the box to start the fourth. Curlee smashed a 1-2 pitch off the scoreboard in left field to give her pitcher a little breathing room as SNU moved ahead 2-0.
It was more the enough for Sparkman. Despite runners getting into scoring position in the fifth and sixth innings, Sparkman bared down and got the outs she needed to keep the Blossoms off the board. She would get three fly outs in the seventh to finish off the complete game and give SNU the win.
Sparkman pitched seven complete, allowing no runs on four hits to go with four strikeouts and no walks.
Curlee was 1-for-3 with the bomb while Sauer was 2-for-3 in the game. Robinson added a 1-for-3 day with a run scored.
In game two, SNU got a 1-0 lead in the first off a throwing error from a fly ball as it got by the third baseman and scored Robinson. However, SNU could not find the early part of the contest as they surrendered six walks. Four of those came in the second inning and gave UAM their first run of the day to make it 1-1.
Sparkman would return midway through the second and was able to find her rhythm as the game continued.
However, Arkansas-Monticello took their first lead of the day as a RBI double in the four put them ahead 2-1. SNU on the other end, could not muster together a string of hits to even the game.
With Sparkman low on energy, SNU turned to
Cassidy Davila who delievered in a huge way, going two complete and allowing no runs or hits to keep the game at 2-1 going into the bottom half of the seventh.
Hailie Fellers stepped into the box and ripped a ball down the right field line, just inches from leaving the park, but giving her a lead-off triple. Sparkman would re-enter and drive Fellers in on a ground out to even the score at 2-2.
As the game moved to extras, Sparkman put Arkansas-Monticello down in the top half and SNU used two walks and a hit batsman to load them up for Curlee with one down. Curlee fell behind 0-2, but worked the count and hit a deep fly ball to center, one that almost got out of the park, but was plenty deep to score James and give the Crimson Storm the 3-2 win.
Sparkman (13-5) earned her second win of the day, pitching 3.2 innings in relief and allowing one run on four hits to go with five strikeouts and no walks.
Cheyenne Laguna got the start for SNU while
Caitlin Lewis saw a brief stint in relief.
Curlee was 1-for-3 with the game winning RBI while Fellers was 1-for-2 with a triple and the tying run. Sauer and Robinson added the only other hits for SNU in game two.
The Crimson Storm moves to 18-17 overall and 13-11 in the GAC. They will look to take the series from the Blossoms tomorrow afternoon, weather permitting, beginning at 12 p.m.
