EMORY, Va. – The Emory & Henry College Softball Team (10-0, 2-0 ODAC) picked up a pair of Old Dominion Athletic Conference wins Sunday afternoon over Sweet Briar College (2-6, 0-4 ODAC) at home. The Wasps won game one by a 9-3 score and dominated game two by a 16-3 tally in five innings.
E&H held a dedication and ribbon cutting ceremony for its field prior to the start of game one. During the fall and winter, over $147,000 of renovations and upgrades were made to the field thanks to funding from the Baseball Tomorrow Fund, Williams-Berry Foundation, BF Foundation, Virginia Foundation for Independent Colleges, Pepsi and an anonymous donor.
Game One – Emory & Henry 9, Sweet Briar 3
The Vixens got on the board in the first with a two-out single up the middle by Nene Jones, plating Amanda Terry, who led off the game with a double. Terry got her second double of the contest in the second to make the score 2-0 while Jones homered to centerfield in the third to give Sweet Briar a 3-0 lead.
Emory & Henry answered with three runs in the bottom of the third. A double down the left field line by freshman centerfielder Leah Elswick (Raven, Va.) got the Wasps going and junior first baseman Taylor Doss (Damascus, Va.) drove in two with a two-out single.
In the bottom of the fourth, junior left fielder Hannah Bays (Abingdon, Va.) had a leadoff home run while freshman designated player Danielle Loving (Elizabethton, Tenn.) drove in freshman Jordan Whitcomb (Rocky Mount, Va.) with a single to left center.
Bays put E&H up 7-3 with another home run in the fifth, this one a two-run towering drive that cleared the left field fence with no problems. The Wasps got two more runs in the sixth for the final 9-3 margin. A double by senior right fielder Bethany Anderson (Dublin, Va.) plated Elswick for the last run.
Bays went two-for-four with three RBI and two runs scored while Loving was three-for-three with a RBI and a run. Elswick and Doss had a pair of hits each with Elswick scoring twice and driving in one. Senior right-hander Roxanne Hillman (Clintwood, Va.) fanned a career-high 12 batters in the complete game victory, making it twice in three starts this season that she has struck out at least 10.
Terry went four-for-four for the Vixenx while Jones added a pair of hits and two RBI. Cynthia Schuh suffered the loss, allowing nine runs on 11 hits.
Game Two – Emory & Henry 16, Sweet Briar 3 (five innings)
The Wasps jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the bottom of the first. A run-scoring triple by Loving got things going while freshman third baseman Caley Hodge (Elizabethton, Tenn.) and Doss had RBI base hits of their own.
Elswick hit a two-out solo home run in the second to highlight a three-run frame, which put the Wasps up 6-0. SBC got on the board in the top of the third on a single to centerfield by Tessa Crawford.
The Wasps made it 12-1 tanks to six runs in the third on five hits and three Vixen errors. After Sweet Briar got a run in the top of the fourth, Emory & Henry added four more in the bottom half of the stanza for a 16-2 advantage. Freshman Kaitlyn Whitaker (Sterling, Va.) drove in a pair of runs to cap the scoring with a two-out double to right field.
SBC added a final run in the fifth on a double by Hollie Halford for the final 16-3 margin.
Eleven different Emory & Henry players in eight of the nine batting positions had hits during game two while Hodge went two-for-two with two runs and two RBI. Doss also had two hits and two runs driven in and freshman catcher Bailey Williams (Wilmington, N.C.) notched her first multi-hit game, going two-for-three. Senior Katie Grimm (Staunton, Va.) earned the win, scattering three runs and eight hits over five innings pitched.
Tessa Crawford and Kayla Dooms led the way for the Vixens with two hits while Mollie Langford took the loss.
Emory & Henry will remain at home on Tuesday when it hosts Roanoke College in an ODAC doubleheader. First pitch is set for 3:00 p.m. The contest will also serve as the Wasps' annual Light It Up Blue Day.
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-photo courtesy of Caleb Johnston, E&H '15