No. 10 Gaston College splits weekend games against Region 17 opponents

No. 10 Gaston College's softball team endured rare offensive struggles as it split a pair of doubleheaders at potential Region 17 postseason playoff opponents Gordon State and Georgia Highlands.

On Friday at Gordon State, the Rhinos lost 2-0 in the opener and won 10-3 in the nightcap.

And on Saturday at Georgia Highlands, the Rhinos lost 2-0 in the opener then won 2-0 in the nightcap.

"We kind of left our bats behind this weekend," said Gaston College coach Michael Steuerwald, whose team is 17-3 overall after the weekend split. "We just didn't do a good job of making adjustments in the batter's box all weekend long. And we still had a chance to win. So the good thing is that, even in these losses, we're showing that we're in these games despite not hitting as well as we have been. We've just got to get our bats rolling and get our speed on the bases to create chaos."

How rare were the shutouts?

In the program's previous three seasons, they were shutout twice in the 2023 regular season and once in the 2024.

Alexa Bianchi-Rossi (4 hits, 2 doubles, 3 RBIs), Adah Bruining (4 hits), Mary Hinson (4 hits, double), Emery Skinner (3 hits, 1 RBI), Savanna Mullins (2 hits, double, 2 RBIs), Jalyn Kopp (2 hits) and Katelyn Brandon (home run, 4 RBIs) led the Rhinos' offense this weekend.

On the mound, Sophia Crist lost in the Friday opener but took the win in relief in Saturday's nightcap, Aidan Ledbetter got the win in relief in Friday's nightcap and starter Tea Cornett was the loser in Saturday's opener.

"I still think we're in a good spot," Steuerwald said. "We've just got to find our offense. We're 17-3 right now and the three games we lost came against two opponents that we could see in May.
"We have to find ways to build off of what we've done. We still have a lot of room to get better."

Gaston College returns to action in a 1 p.m. Wednesday doubleheader against Cleveland Community College at Gastonia's CaroMont Health Park before two games apiece on Friday and Saturday at Raleigh's Walnut Creek Park.