LOOKOUT MOUNTAIN, Ga. -- The Covenant softball team wrapped up the regular season with a sweep of the visiting Panthers. The Scots took game one 11-0 and won game two on a walk-off, 5-4.
GAME 1: Covenant 11, LaGrange 0
The Scots used 12 hits in game one to gain the 11-0 shutout win over the visiting Panthers.
Lead-off hitter, Jordan Holman, got the hot hitting started for Covenant in the first with a single up the middle. And after Vanessa Davis followed with a walk, Aileen Hill was able to bring in the Scots' first score with an RBI single (1-0).
LaGrange would answer in the top of the second with singles from Brittany Todd and Jordyn Gurley, but Covenant's defense would thwart any score for the Panthers. The two hits would end up being the only hits tallied for LaGrange.
The hitting rally continued for the Scots in their half of the second, as a double from Makenna Dance and a triple from Holman extended Covenant's lead to 3-0. And after holding LaGrange hitless in the top of the third, the Scots would take a 6-0 lead after producing a three-run inning off of four hits in the bottom of the inning.
The runs came thanks to a double from Faith Manning and singles from Cope Whitaker, Dance, and Holman.
But Covenant wouldn't stop there.
After once again recording a scoreless inning for the Panthers, the Scots would score five runs on four hits in the bottom of the fourth to take a 11-0 lead.
Three of the runs came with two outs. Dance and Holman doubled, while Vanessa Davis and Hill singled during the rally.
Pitcher Lauren Kierpa was then able to make quick work of LaGrange in the top of the fifth with a groundout and back-to-back strikeouts to earn the 11-0 run-rule win in five innings.
Covenant had three players bat a thousand in game one. Holman went 4-for-4 with five RBIs, while Dance was 3-for-3 with two doubles and an RBI. And Hill was 2-for-2 with an RBI.
Starting pitcher Kierpa pitched all five innings, with zero earned runs and six strikeouts. Kierpa also recorded her 100th strikeout for the season during the contest.
Todd and Gurley both went 1-for-2. Ivy Grant got the start in the circle for the Panthers (0-1) and pitched 2.0 innings with three earned runs and one strikeout. Sydney Rojo pitched two innings of relief, tallying seven earned runs and no strikeouts.
GAME 2: Covenant 5 , LaGrange 4
A two-RBI double from Davis in the bottom of the seventh helped give Covenant its third walk-off victory of the season.
The score remained 0-0 until the bottom of the second when the Scots would take a 1-0 lead thanks to a double from Kierpa and an RBI groundout from Tori Layfield.
Covenant would keep the 1-0 lead through four innings. But the Panthers would score and tie it up at 1-1 in the top of the fifth. Rebekah Hobson, who was brought around to tie up the game, doubled and recorded the Panthers' first hit of the contest.
An RBI double from Davis in the bottom of the fifth, though, would give the Scots back their lead, making it 2-1.
LaGrange would then compose a big answer in the top of the sixth, tallying five hits and scoring three to take back the lead (4-2).
The runs came off of five singles and three defensive errors for Covenant, making it 4-2 in favor of the visiting Panthers.
But a triple from Manning and a sacrifice fly from Emma Giller helped the Scots cut the lead in half in the bottom of the inning, making it 4-3 heading into the seventh.
After LaGrange went down in order in the top of the seventh, Diana Muniz was able to reach first due to a fielding error. Holman then singled, advancing Muniz to third, and stole second. The steal was then followed by another double from Davis, bringing in the tying and winning runs to give the Scots a 5-4 comeback win.
Davis was 3-for-4 with three RBIs, and Kierpa was 2-for-3. Kierpa (16-11) also pitched the entire second game, with three earned runs and six strikeouts.
Holman produced a record-setting day across the two contests. After going 4-for-4 in game two, she finished the day a perfect 8-for-8 with five RBIs. Her triple in the bottom of the second in game one was her sixth of the season, which set a new program record. Holman also tied the program record of multi-hit games in a season with 19.
Her eight hits today brought her season total to 57, which is now second all-time in program history. And she finished the season with the best single-season batting average ever recorded at .479.
Hobson was 2-for-3 with an RBI for LaGrange. Abbey Gardner (3-6) got the start in the circle for the Panthers and pitched the entire game with four earned runs and two strikeouts.
The Scots finish the season with an 18-18 overall record (7-7 in USAS). LaGrange falls to 3-13 overall (2-12 USAS).
CONNECT WITH THE SCOTS
Be sure to follow the Scots all season long on athletics.covenant.edu and on social media at Facebook, Twitter and Instagram for up-to-date scores, news and other information. To receive e-newsletters, click here
