Gaston College suffers home DH defeats on Tuesday

After a 4-0 start to their first official National Junior College Athletic Association softball season, Gaston College's Rhinos suffered a doubleheader defeat at the hands of nearby Catawba Valley Community College on Tuesday at Gastonia's CaroMont Health Park.

The visiting Red Hawks won 13-4 in the opener then freshman right-hander Mayson Lail threw a no-hitter in an 8-0 victory in the nightcap.

"CVCC is a great team," said Gaston College coach Mike Steuerwald, whose team had opened the season with doubleheader sweep victories over St. Andrews and Patrick & Henry Community College. "They're well-coached and they have some players in their lineup that can do some things.
"I think we'll be there. It's good to get a variety of opponents that give us some different looks."

The visitors scored in the top of the first inning in each game and never trailed as CVCC took advantage of nine hits, six walks and two hit batters in the opener and had 12 hits in the nightcap.

"We weren't locked in from pitch one," Steuerwald said. "We gave up too many leadoff batters and they put a lot of pressure on us.:

The Red Hawks' leadoff batter reached base seven times in 12 innings with all seven of them coming around to score.

Offensively, Jailyn Tineo (2 hits, 2-run home run), Logan Lilly (2 doubles, 2 RBIs), Asheton Queen (double) and Brantleigh Parrott (double) led an eight-hit offense in the opener and Tineo drew two walks in the nightcap.

Catawba Valley improved to 4-2 on the season, is coming off a 37-10 season a year ago and is considered one of the contenders for the Region 10 Division II title. Lail, a 2022 St. Stephens High graduate, was the Western Foothills 3A Conference pitcher of the year last spring.

Gaston College, a club team last season that is playing Region 10 Division I this season, returns to action with a pair of 1 p.m. home doubleheaders against Morton College, Ill., on Friday and Saturday.

"We've just got to do a better job of executing because once we get into March and start seeing conference opponents, we're going to have seen everything and feel like we'll be ready to roll," said Steuerwald, whose team opens its Region 10 Division I schedule on March 3.