WISE, Va. – The Lady Railsplitters (9-7) pushed their winning streak to four games by sweeping a doubleheader from the Virginia-Wise Cavaliers (7-5) on Sunday at Cavalier Field.
After trailing for most of the first six innings of game one, Lincoln Memorial rallied with a four-run seventh inning to capture a come-from-behind 6-3 win. In game two, the Lady Railsplitters racked up a season-high 16 hits, jumped out to a 5-0 lead and held on late to win 12-9.
The Lady Railsplitters are back in action next weekend when they take part in the Salem Tournament in Salem, Virginia. That two-day event begins on Friday, March 9 against Edinboro and West Liberty.
Game One: Lincoln Memorial 6, Virginia-Wise 3
Ty-Kella Goins went 3-for-4 with a double, an RBI and a run scored, while
Bella Buccellato had two hits and two runs scored to lead the LMU offensive attack.
Jacie Pittman and
Kelsie Hocutt added two RBI apiece in the Lady Railsplitters' comeback victory.
Brianna Taylor allowed nine hits but just one extra-base knock to pick up her fourth win of the season. The righty struck out one without a walk and surrendered just a single earned run to move to 4-4 on the season.
Samantha Ely and Bridget Henzel led the Virginia-Wise attack. Ely went 3-for-4 with a run scored, while Henzel had three RBI as part of a 2-for-2 outing.
The Lady Railsplitters handed Cavalier pitcher Taylor Brandts just her second loss of the season, dropping her to 4-2 on the season after racking up 10 hits and six runs (two earned).
Virginia-Wise took the lead in the bottom of the first inning on Henzel's sac fly, but the Lady Railsplitters answered back and took the lead in the top of the third on an RBI double from Goins and a sac fly from Pittman.
The Cavaliers retook the lead in the bottom of that inning on Henzel's two-run double and they held onto that 3-2 until the top of the seventh inning, when an error by the Virginia-Wise left fielder allowed two runs to score. The Lady Railsplitters then tacked on two more on a two-run single from Hocutt.
The Cavaliers strung together two hits in the bottom of the seven inning but couldn't push a run across as the Lady Railsplitters hung on for the victory.
Game Two: Lincoln Memorial 12, Virginia-Wise 9
The Lady Railsplitters had a field day in game two, piling up seven extra-base hits including four home runs.
Hocutt went 3-for-4 with three runs scored, two RBI, two home runs and a double, while Goins finished 3-for-5 with two doubles and three runs scored.
Emma Webb went 3-for-5 with four RBI, two runs and a home run, while Pittman also went deep.
Grace Cochran and
Savannah Daniel chipped in two hits apiece in the offensive onslaught.
The Lady Railsplitters needed nearly every run as
Justice Smith struggled in the circle, giving up 13 hits and seven earned runs over 5.1 innings of work. She picked up the win in spite of that to move to 5-3 on the season.
Taylor pitched the final 1.2 innings and helped preserve the victory by giving up only two hits and two unearned runs.
Lincoln Memorial led from start to finish as they scored four runs on five hits in the top of the first.
Allie Jones, Webb,
Audrey Petoskey and Cochran accounted for RBI knocks in the inning.
Jones increased the lead to 5-0 in the top of the second with an RBI single, but the Cavaliers cut into the lead over the next two innings with a solo home run from Taylor Creasey and a two-run double from Lucindy Lawson.
The Lady Railsplitters then scored six unanswered runs all on home runs. Webb connected on a three-run shot in the fourth, which was followed by Hocutt's solo bomb that same inning. Pittman then launched her two-run homer in the fifth to make it an 11-3 LMU lead.
The Cavaliers nearly rallied late with two-run homers from Ely and Creasey in the sixth and seventh inning but Lincoln Memorial held on for the victory.
Hocutt hit her second home run of the game in the top of the sixth to add a much-needed insurance run. That swing also helped tie Hocutt for the team lead in homers.
