Gaston College takes first official softball victories in 2023 doubleheader

After spending last season as a club team, Gaston College set history on the softball diamond on Wednesday afternoon with a doubleheader sweep of St. Andrews University in Laurinburg.

Rhinos freshman pitcher Amiya Tomlinson struck out eight and threw a three-hitter in a 4-0 win in the opener that was fueled by Serena Yalich's three-run triple in the sixth inning.

And Tessa Hunt scattered six hits and Brantleigh Parrott, Jailyn Tineo and Logan Lilly each had multiple hits in a 9-3 victory in the nightcap.

"Since we were a club team last year, we hadn't had our first official collegiate game yet," Gaston College coach Mike Steuerwald said. "It was a good all-around performance for our team."

Tomlinson and was locked into a pitcher's duel with the Knights' pitcher until the top of the sixth inning.

That's when Asheton Queen and Parrott singled and Tineo was hit by a pitch to load the bases for Yalich with one out. Yalich's triple snapped the scoreless tie and she later scored on Gabrielle Porterfield's RBI single.

"She did a great job of keeping us in there," Steuerwald said of Tomlinson. "One of the things I've talked to her about is eliminating the free passes. When she does that, she can be really good. Today she had eight strikeouts and one walk so she never put herself in trouble throughout the day. She also was pitching ahead in counts.
"It was a super impressive outing, especially for her first college outing."

In the nightcap, the Rhinos broke open a scoreless tie in with three runs in both the third and fourth innings for a 6-0 lead.

Queen and Tineo had RBI doubles and Parrott a RBI single in the third. And Grace Manning had a two-run double and Gracie Brown a RBI single in the fourth.

Hunt didn't yield a run until the fourth and yielded two hits, three runs (two earned) and one walk.

Parrott had a game-high three hits with Tineo and Lilly getting two hits apiece.

McKenzie Plaskin, out the last few practices with injury, got the third inning rally started with a single.

"The great thing is we won both but we still have a lot of things we need to work on," Steuerwald said. "I don't think our offense was as locked in as I've seen it before. They produced but they can produce at a higher level."

Gaston College returns to action in its 2023 home opener on Saturday at Gastonia's CaroMont Health Park in a 1 p.m. doubleheader against Patrick & Henry.

"We're excited," Steuerwald said ."We love playing in that stadium. I told them there should be a lot of excitement and enthusiasm around these first home games."

Gaston College will host a tailgate for the game starting at noon at the corner of Franklin and Hill in the former parking lot of Save-A-Lot.