CHATTANOOGA -- The Covenant Lady Scots softball team came out swinging hot bats and eased their way to a doubleheader sweep of Bryan College Tuesday night with scores of 10-2 and 10-5. The doubleheader was counted as a home game for the Lady Scots, though it was played at Warner Park in downtown Chattanooga.
Bryan, which is in its first year of varsity softball, was overmatched from the beginning of game one. Covenant scored 7 runs in the bottom of the 1st inning in game one, capped off by a Beth Harris double to left field, her second hit of the inning, scoring 3 runs. Harris was thrown out trying to stretch the double into a triple, but the damage had been done as the Lady Scots led 7-0. Lindsey Potter also contributed a 2-RBI double of her own during the outburst.
The Lady Scots would capitalize on a Bryan error to score three more times in the bottom of the 2nd inning. Potter hit a bases-loaded sacrifice fly that drove in Kim Cuticchia, then Sonja Townsend drew a walk forcing in another run, and Christine Core finished off the scoring with an RBI single to make it 10-0 Covenant.
Not to be outdone by the offense, starting pitcher Chelsea Krafft had a dominating game of her own. Krafft did not allow a baserunner until the 4th inning and surrendered just 2 runs on 3 hits in the 5-inning contest. Krafft struck out 6 Lady Lions hitters in the process and improves her pitching record to 2-0 on the season.
Game two started in very much the same way that game one did. After starting pitcher Sonja Townsend set down the Bryan offense easily, the Covenant offense took center stage. Harris led off the bottom of the 1st with a walk which was followed by a single from Cuticchia and then a Bryan error that allowed Harris to score. Jenni Jobe then doubled and drove in both Cuticchia and Courtney Wagoner making it 3-0 Lady Scots.
Bryan got on the board in the 2nd inning with a run of their own, but Covenant responded when Cuticchia hit a 2-out double to left field that scored Core and Townsend to put the Lady Scots up 5-1. Covenant would add single runs in the 3rd inning, courtesy of Morgan Booker's RBI double, and in the 4th inning on a Lady Lions error that allowed Harris to score.
The Lady Lions would make things interesting in the 6th inning, scoring four runs to cut the Covenant lead to 7-5. The big blow in the rally came by way of Taylor Yates' 3-RBI triple, off of Krafft who came on in relief of Townsend. Yates then scored on a sacrifice fly from Erica Morris.
But again Covenant had the answer as they would score 3 runs in the bottom of the 6th inning to seal the win. After two runs had crossed the plate, thanks in large part to a mishandled fly ball, Wagoner came up and blasted a solo home run to right-center field, her first of the year, to make it 10-5 Lady Scots.
Krafft then finished off game two with the save as she went 2 innings and struck out 2. Townsend gets the win for Covenant and sees her record improve to 2-0.
For the day, Covenant scored 20 runs on 14 hits and did not commit a single error. Beth Harris and Christine Core were two of the main reasons Covenant came away with the sweep. Harris went 2-6 with 3 RBIs and 4 runs scored, while Core went 3-5 with 2 runs scored and an RBI. Lindsey Potter continued her fine fielding at third base. Potter had 6 fielding assists in game two alone and now leads the team in that category with 12, but has not committed an error all year.
Covenant (4-0) will travel to Atlanta for its next doubleheader against GSAC foe Spelman College on Saturday, March 5 beginning at 2:00pm. The next home date for the Lady Scots is Tuesday, March 15 against Birmingham-Southern at Warner Park in Chattanooga. First pitch is set for 4:00pm.
