HARTSVILLE, S.C. – The Coker Cobras (27-9, 4-2 SAC) took both ends of a South Atlantic Conference softball doubleheader from the Lady Railsplitters (17-12, 1-5 SAC) on Saturday afternoon at Saleeby-Stokes Field.
A two-out error in the bottom of the second opened the door for Coker, who scored three runs that frame to race out to a 5-1 lead in game one. Lincoln Memorial was ultimately unable to recover from that deficit in a 6-3 loss.
The Lady Railsplitters took an early 2-0 lead in game two, but the Cobras scored four unanswered runs to complete the sweep with a 4-2 victory.
Lincoln Memorial is back in action on Wednesday, March 29, heading to nearby Greeneville, Tennessee for a SAC doubleheader against the Tusculum Pioneers. First pitch in game one is scheduled for 2 p.m.
Game One: Coker 6, Lincoln Memorial 3
The Cobras scored two runs in the first, added three more in the second and held on to capture a 6-3 victory over the Lady Railsplitters.
Second baseman
Ty-Kella Goins (Ramseur, N.C.) went 3-for-4 with two RBI and hit her team-leading sixth home run of the season to power the Lincoln Memorial attack.
Allie Jones (Ooltewah, Tenn.) went 2-for-4 with a pair of singles and a run scored.
Dakotah Fraley (Walkersville, Md.) added a double, a walk and scored a run.
Jennifer Moose (Statesville, N.C.) went 0-for-3 to see her eight-game hitting streak come to an end.
Junior right-hander
Brianna Taylor (Ooltewah, Tenn.) allowed three hits and two earned runs while walking two batters, and was pulled from the game after 1.1 innings of work. Taylor fell to 10-6 following her second consecutive loss.
Each of the first seven batters in the Coker lineup recorded at least one hit. Maria Williamson belted her SAC-leading 11th home run of the season to drive in a pair of run. Cacey Simmons went 1-for-3 with an RBI and scored twice, while Allyson High went 1-for-2 with an RBI and a walk. Tayler Barcomb also notched an RBI.
Nikki Linthicum (6-2) picked up the win for the Cobras after holding Lincoln Memorial to five hits and two runs with three strikeouts over four innings of work. Christine Carver shut the door on the Lady Railsplitters over the final three frames, earning her second save by allowing just three hits and one unearned run.
The Lady Railsplitters put the first run on the board, as Fraley led off the game with a double and scored on Goins' single back up the middle.
Coker answered in the home half of the first, as Kelsi Bachmann led off with a double and Simmons singled to put runners on the corners with no outs. A double steal put the Cobras on the board, while a sacrifice fly out by Barcomb gave Coker a 2-1 lead.
A two-out error proved costly for the Lady Railsplitters in the bottom of the second. With Anna Gluhosky sitting at third base following a lead-off walk, reliever
Kelsie Hocutt (Wendell, N.C.) committed a throwing error to allow the run to score and extend the inning. The Cobras made LMU pay in the very next at-bat, as Williamson blasted a two-run dinger over the wall in left center.
Goins trimmed the Coker lead to 5-2 in the top of the third with a lead-off home run, but the Cobras erased that in the bottom of the fifth, as Barcomb singled back up the middle and scored on High's two-out knock.
Jones led off with a single in the top of the sixth, advanced to second on a wild pitch and scored on a two-out fielding error, but that was the last run Lincoln Memorial could muster.
Game Two: Coker 4, Lincoln Memorial 2
Jones and Hocutt both went 2-for-3 with four singles between the duo, but the rest of the Lady Railsplitters' lineup finished 2-for-19. Fraley and
Teddi Collins (Germantown, Ohio) recorded the team's other two hits, while Jones and
Jacie Pittman (Travelers Rest, S.C.) each produced an RBI apiece.
Three Coker pitchers combined to keep the Lady Railsplitters in check. Taylor Forehand (6-1) picked up the win by surrendering just four hits and two runs with five strikeouts over five innings. Relievers Tabitha Allen and Carver threw a shutout inning apiece and allowed two total hits without issuing a walk to preserve the victory. Carver earned her second save of the day.
Williamson had another big game, going 2-for-3 with three RBI, a double and another home run – her 12th of the season. Aside from Williamson, the rest of the Coker lineup produced just three hits, but did draw four walks. Simmons went 1-for-2 with an RBI to provide some support for Williamson.
Justice Smith (Rockmart, Ga.) suffered the loss after allowing three hits and three earned runs with three walks over 4.2 innings. Taylor tossed 1.1 innings in relief of Smith, giving up two hits and a run over that span. Smith fell to 7-6 on the season in defeat.
Lincoln Memorial did all of its damage in the top of the second inning, scoring two runs to jump out to an early lead. Hocutt and Collins singled to get the inning going before Jones singled to left center to drive in the first run of the game. An RBI groundout from Pittman made it 2-0 in favor of the Lady Railsplitters.
LMU maintained that lead until the bottom of the third, when a pair of walks and a single by Mindy North loaded the bases for Coker without an out. Simmons brought the first run home with a sacrifice fly out, while Williamson gave the Cobras the lead for good with a two-run double to straightaway center field in the next at-bat.
Williamson added an insurance run in the bottom of the sixth, leading off with a solo home run to center field.
The Lady Railsplitters put a runner on base in every inning down the stretch, but couldn't push another run across.
One of Lincoln Memorial's best opportunities came in the fifth, as Fraley singled and Moose walked in back-to-back two-out at-bats. However, Forehand forced Goins into an infield pop out to end the inning.
Jones led off with a single in the top of the seventh, but a pop out, a strikeout and a groundout ended the game.
