Gaston College stays atop Region 10 standings after doubleheader sweep

Gaston College vaulted to the top of the Region 10 standings following a doubleheader sweep of visiting USC Union on Friday afternoon at Gastonia's CaroMont Health Park.

Freshman pitcher-outfielder Brantleigh Parrott pitched a 2-hitter and slugged a home run in a 4-1 win in the opening game. Then the Rhinos overcame 4-3 and 5-4 deficits to win 6-5 with Parrott striking out the side in the seventh for a save.

"Region game are always tough," said Gaston College coach Mike Steuerwald, whose team improved to 27-7 overall and 7-1 in Region 10 after its fifth straight victory. "We just played really well. I think it was a close to a solid 14 innings as we've played all season. There was nothing spectacular. And we got some standout individual efforts."

Parrott now has a 15-0 pitching record with five saves after striking out 14 in eight innings while yielding three hits, one walk and one run.

The Rhinos' offense had 16 hits led by Parrott, Gabrielle Porterfield and Haylee Salter with three hits apiece.

Parrott's home run in the bottom of the first inning gave Gaston College the lead for good in the opener. Porterfield singled and used her speed on the basepaths to create the second run - she stole second base, advanced to third on a fly ball to left field and stole home.

Salter's two-out single in the fifth became the third run on Gracie Brown's RBI single. And Serena Yalich's 2-out double in the sixth drove in Asheton Queen, who had doubled earlier in the inning.

In the nightcap, Tessa Hunt relieved in the third inning and worked four innings with one hit, one walk, one unearned run and three strikeouts before Parrott closed out the win in the seventh.

Porterfield and Parrott had back-to-back two-out RBI doubles in the fourth to knot the score at 4 and Yalich's 1-out sacrifice fly in the sixth drove in Queen with the winning run.

"It just a huge, huge day for us," Steuerwald said. "One of the things we continue to harp on is sticking with our pillars. We want to be present, accountable, competitive and joyful. If we can do that, it means we can enjoy the moments that we've had. So it's been fun. Even in some of the tough games and tough losses that we've had, this group has competed."

The Rhinos return to Region 10 play on Sunday in a 1 p.m. doubleheader at Florence-Darlington Tech. The Stingers (13-12, 3-5) are the only team to beat Region 10 Division II power Louisburg (29-2).

"It's always tough when you go on the road," Steuerwald said. "They're a good team. They've given Louisburg their only two losses on the season."