Box Score Game 1 |
Box Score Game 2
Demorest, GA -- The Piedmont College softball team could not force a split with visiting Emory University earlier this afternoon at the Walker Athletic Complex falling in a doubleheader sweep to the Eagles. The nation's second ranked team shutout the hosting Lady Lions 3-0 in game one before having to fight off a seventh inning rally in the encore match-up to escape with a 5-4 game two win.
In game one, the Piedmont offense could not get the bats swinging well as Emory kept the hosting Lady Lions scoreless through seven complete innings. In the top of the first, the Eagles were not short of offense themselves as they collected a run right away on just a single hit with that costly RBI single putting the visitors up 1-0 early on.
The Lady Lions managed to keep the visitors off the board for the next four innings but saw the Eagles add two more runs to their overall advantage on the way to a 3-0 victory in game one. Senior #B.J. Cofer# took the loss moving to 10-7 on the year as she allowed three earned runs on nine hits in seven innings.
In the second game of the day, Emory again jumped out to an early lead this time scoring three runs in the first inning on three hits including a two-out, two-run homer. However, after allowing that early flurry, freshman pitcher Brittney Head settled down on the mound to retire six of the next seven batters she faced to hold the Eagles' lead at three scores.
In the bottom of the third, Piedmont would start to make headway as a leadoff triple by Rebecca Renfore turned into the Lady Lions' first score of the day when Raley White's groundout to the right side allowed the second baseman to come home.
The game remained a 3-1 contest until the fifth inning when Emory capitalized on another two-out hit with a RBI single that pushed the Eagles up 4-1 heading to the bottom half of the inning. It was there that the Lady Lions again showed some fight snaring a run on a sac bunt from Renfroe that cut the margin back down to just two scores at 4-2.
After Emory added a run in the top of the sixth to again push their lead to three, the Lady Lions would push the Eagles in the last chance at bat rallying in the bottom of the seventh. Piedmont grabbed a pair of runs as Jamie Dennis drew a leadoff walk before advancing on a error to later score on another Renfroe sacrifice.
The second of Piedmont's two runs came came on a McClain single that put teammate Megan Kesler across the plate to pull the home team within one. With one on and two outs, senior Raley White then stepped up to lace an Eagle pitch over the Emory infield only to see the centerfielder make a game-saving sliding catch to end the Piedmont rally in a 5-4 loss for the home team.
Head went all seven innings allowing five earned on nine hits while collecting four strikeouts on the day to go with a single walk. The Lady Lions' top hitters were McClain and White who each went three for seven with a pair of RBIs combined while Renfroe led the way with two RBIs on the afternoon.
The loss snaps a seven-game winning streak for the now 22-12 Lady Lions. Piedmont now will have the Easter weekend off before hosting its final regular season doubleheader of the year as Berry College comes to town for an April 27 match-up.
