RALEIGH, N.C. -- The Covenant softball team pushed a tough William Peace team down to the wire in Friday's USA South doubleheader, but the Lady Scots fell short in both games. William Peace took game one 7-4 before producing a furious seventh inning rally in the nightcap for a 4-3 victory.
Covenant has dropped five straight USA South games and sits at 11-12-1 overall and 3-9 in conference. William Peace, which was nationally ranked earlier this year, moves to 21-9 overall and 10-4 in the USA South.
GAME ONE: William Peace 7, Covenant 4
Covenant scored four runs in the third inning, but William Peace rallied to take a 7-4 victory in Friday's doubleheader opener.
Morgan Lane went 1-for-4 with a three-run home run, while Jami Johnson, Shannon Schmitt, Madison Quirk, Jordan Brett, Joni Johnson and Carlin Labuzan all produced a hit apiece in the loss.
Down 3-0 in the third, Covenant took a 4-3 lead by scoring four times in the inning on four hits. Labuzan led off the frame with a single and Jami Johnson reached later in the inning on a hit by pitch to setup Lane's three-run blast to left field. The homer was Lane's third of the year. Schmitt continued the rally with a two-out single and Quirk followed with a triple in the right-center field gap that scored Schmitt giving the Lady Scots a 4-3 lead.
But the host Pacers scored two runs in their half of the third to grab a 5-4 lead and extended that margin to 7-4 with two more runs in the fourth. Covenant would put runners in scoring position in both the sixth and seventh innings but could not push across any more runs.
Cris Gant (3-4) made the start and got the loss in the circle for Covenant as she went six innings. Gant struck out eight in her outing.
William Peace's Morgan Farmer (12-3) went the distance allowing four runs on seven hits to pick up the win. Lindsey Wiggins went 1-for-2 with four RBIs, while Caroline Womble, Lindsey Coley and Heather McLean had two hits each.
GAME TWO: William Peace 4, Covenant 3
William Peace scored four runs, all coming after two were out, in the bottom of the seventh inning to rally for a 4-3 victory and a doubleheader sweep of Covenant.
Covenant scored single runs in the second, fourth and sixth innings to grab a 3-0 lead. Joni Johnson delivered an RBI single in the second that plated Quirk, while Brett produced an RBI single in the fourth that scored Shade Epes. In the sixth, it was Joni Johnson again with an RBI single bringing in Schmitt for a three-run lead.
Lady Scots starter Kat Andrews was cruising through the first six innings in her second start of the year in the circle. Andrews (0-1) had allowed just four hits entering the seventh, but picks up the loss. Overall, Andrews scattered six hits and struck out two on the day.
Andrews retired the first two Pacers in the seventh, but then ran into trouble. Back-to-back walks led to an RBI single from Katelyn McLamb that scored two. After a wild pitch allowed the tying run to score, Farmer doubled home the winning run giving William Peace a 4-3 win.
Brett and Joni Johnson had two hits apiece, while Johnson drove in two runs. Labuzan and Schmitt had a hit each in the loss.
Farmer went 2-for-4 with an RBI to lead the Pacers. Reliever Kim Cook (5-0) gets the win as she went the final four innings allowing two runs on four hits.
UP NEXT
Covenant will be back at it on Saturday with a USA South doubleheader at Meredith. Game one is slated for 12 p.m.
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