LOOKOUT MOUNTAIN -- The Covenant softball team had the bats working on Wednesday with 19 runs on 23 hits in a doubleheader sweep of non-conference foe Alverno. Covenant scored seven runs in the sixth inning to earn a 10-2 victory before run-ruling the visiting Inferno 9-0 in the second game.
The wins snap a four-game losing skid for Covenant and moves the Lady Scots to 13-14-1 overall. Alverno drops to 7-9 on the year. The games were the second and third meetings all-time between the programs and the first since 2009. Covenant has won all three games.
Jordan Brett extended her hitting streak to 13 games with three hits in game one followed by two in the second. Morgan Lane had four hits, a home run and six RBIs on the day.
GAME ONE: Covenant 10, Alverno 2
Covenant broke open a close game in the bottom of the sixth with seven runs to pick up a 10-2 victory in six innings.
After both Covenant starting pitcher Tyler Epes and Alverno's Olivia Schneider put together two scoreless innings to start the game, Covenant got on the board with a run in the third on Lane's RBI single to center that brought in Shade Epes. The Lady Scots extended that lead to 3-0 in the fourth as Shade Epes reached first on a fielding error that allowed Brett to score before Madalyn Ames had an infield RBI single scoring Joni Johnson.
Alverno scored its only two runs of the day on a Megan Hernandez two-run home run to left field in the top of the fifth that cut Covenant's lead to 3-2.
In the sixth, Covenant scored seven times on eight hits to bring in the run-rule. Joni Johnson singled in Madison Quirk that forced Alverno to make a pitching change. After the change, Shade Epes produced an RBI single to shallow center field to make it 5-2. After Kasey Hart drew a bases loaded walk to bring in another run, Jami Johnson singled in a run before Lane brought in two more with a single up the middle. Brett capped the game with an RBI double to right-center field that drove in Kaitlyn Sirmons.
Brett finished 3-for-3 with two runs and an RBI, while Lane was 2-for-4 with three RBIs. Shade Epes drove in two runs while going 1-for-1 and Ames and Joni Johnson both had two hits.
Tyler Epes (4-5) went all six innings allowing two runs on four hits with a strikeout. Alverno's Schneider (3-6) gets the loss after surrendering six runs on seven hits in five-plus innings of work.
GAME TWO: Covenant 9, Alverno 0
Carsyn Stone tossed a five-hit shutout and the Lady Scots' offense picked up where it left off in game one in a 9-0, five-inning victory to complete the doubleheader sweep.
Covenant scored four runs in the first, three in the second and two more in the third to build a comfortable advantage. Lane went 2-for-3 with a home run and three RBIs, while Brett was 2-for-2 with two runs batted in. Jami Johnson and Shannon Schmitt also had two hits apiece.
As good as the offense was, Stone was equally impressive in the circle. The freshman scattered just five hits and struck out four while throwing 73 pitches, 46 for strikes, in her complete-game outing. Stone retired six of the final seven hitters she faced.
A four-run first inning had Covenant off an running in the game. Hart led off with a walk and scored on Jami Johnson's double into the left-center field gap to make it 1-0. Two batters later, Schmitt delivered an RBI single followed by a two-run single from Brett to make it 4-0.
In the second it was all Lane as she clobbered a three-run home run to left field, scoring Jami Johnson and Hart, to give the Lady Scots a 7-0 lead. The homer was Lane's fourth of the year.
The Lady Scots capped the scoring in the third as Brett scored on an error after Carlin Labuzan stole second base. Later in the inning, Hart singled to right field that plated Labuzan for a 9-0 lead.
Ashlie Rossi (3-2) is hit with the loss for the Inferno after giving up seven runs in 1.1 innings. Five different players recorded one hit for Alverno in the loss.
UP NEXT
Covenant will host Greensboro for a USA South doubleheader on Saturday. Game one is set for 1 p.m.
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