No. 10 Gaston College splits DH at perennial power
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | R | H | E | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Gaston College | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 12 | 3 |
|
Walters State Community College | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 10 | 0 |
No. 10-ranked Gaston College's softball suffered a heartbreaking first defeat in the nightcap of Wednesday's first road doubleheader of the season.
The Rhinos won 11-1 in the opener before losing 5-4 on a walkoff double in the bottom of the seventh inning at perennial power Walters State Community College of Tennessee.
The loss dropped Gaston College to 9-1 on the season and put an end to the second-best start to a season in program history; The Rhinos started 13-0 last season before finishing 63-5 overall and fourth place in the National Junior College Athletic Association World Series.
"I thought we played really well in the first game," Gaston College coach Michael Steuerwald said. "The second game we just missed a lot of opportunities. But we fought back, tied it at 4 and couldn't find a way to get to the eighth inning.
"I thought we competed and had energy all day. We just didn't finish our opportunities as well in the second game. We obviously wanted to finish off that second game and continue to the winning streak. But I like our group and I like where we're at."
In the opener, the Rhinos had two big innings - seven runs in the fourth and four in the seventh - to win comfortably as Sophia Crist tossed a four-hitter with six strikeouts. Katelyn Brandon had two home runs, Mary Hinson two doubles, Sophia Barone, McKenna Jones and Emery Skinner homered and Hinson and Jones had three hits each to lead a 16-hit attack.
In the nightcap, Gaston College scored twice in the second and one in the sixth and seventh innings to forge a 4-all tie before the Senators took the dramatic victory.
Hinson (3 hits, 2 RBIs), Brandon (2 hits, double, 1 RBI), Alexa Bianchi-Rossi (2 hits) and Mallie Courson (2 hits) led a 12-hit offense and Starter Aidan Ledbetter went six innings before Crist came on in relief in the seventh.
The Rhinos begin two days of action in the Winthrop Classic in Rock Hill, S.C. on Friday; Gaston College meets Georgia Military in an 11 a.m. doubleheader on Friday and plays Gordon State in a 3 p.m. doubleheader on Saturday.
The Rhinos next home games are next Wednesday at 1 p.m. at Gastonia's CaroMont Health Park when they host Walters State.