Gaston College sweeps Mid-Atlantic tournament, advances to NJCAA World Series

Gaston College's softball team is heading to the National Junior College Athletic Association World Series.

The Rhinos swept Coastal Alabama-South two games to none in the best-of-three Mid-Atlantic District tournament in Alexander City, Ala., with a pair of 2-0 shutout victories.

Brantleigh Parrott improved to 24-0 on the season with her 11th and 12th shutouts of the season. The right-hander yielded five hits and four walks while striking out 21 batters in the back-to-back wins.

The sweep gives Gaston College a 43-8 overall record and a berth in the May 23-27 NJCAA World Series at Choccoloco Park in Oxford, Ala. The Rhinos are the first Region 10 team to advance to the Division I World Series since 2016.

"Any year you go to a World Series is huge," Rhinos coach Mike Steuerwald said. "But it's like what I told the team after the game, I really have no words to say. They've done all I've asked and they competed and competed and just found ways to make plays and win games. I'm so proud of what they've done.
"This group has always had the attitude of, 'We'll get done whatever we need to get done.' And that has led us to Oxford, Alabama next week."

In Friday's sweep whose start was delayed for four hours by inclement weather, Gaston College scored one run in the early going then tacked on an insurance run in the sixth inning.

In the opener, Asheton Queen hit a leadoff double and scored on Parrott's RBI single in the first inning and Gabrielle Porterfield led off the sixth and later scored on Logan Lilly's sacrifice fly.

"Queen had a big hit for us to start the day," Steuerwald said. "Scoring in the first inning of that first game was huge for us because it let us relax a little bit."

In the second game, Grace Manning singled before Tessa Hunt, Gracie Brown and Queen walked in the second - with Queen's free pass forcing in a run in the in the second inning. Parrott doubled and scored on Lilly's RBI double later in the sixth inning.

Parrott (3 hits, double, 1 RBI) was the only Rhinos' player with more than one hit in the two games.