No. 18 Gaston College record doubleheader shutouts for 18th straight win

No. 18 Gaston College's softball team won a road sweep with 8-0 and 4-0 shutout victories at East Georgia State on Wednesday afternoon to extend its winning streak to 18 games.

The Rhinos improved to 34-3 with their second near-perfect game in 12 days as Sophia Crist retired 19 straight batters in the nightcap before finishing with a one-hitter with eight strikeouts. It came after Aidan Ledbetter fired a two-hitter with 11 strikeouts in the opener.

"I told the pitchers that maybe I can figure out how to get the second out in the seventh inning since it was the second time in two weeks we've had a perfect game for 6 1/3 innings," Gaston College coach Michael Steuerwald said of Ledbetter's strong effort on March 14 before she finished with a two-hitter. "Aidan and Sophia were really good all day in the circle."

Offensively, Savanna Mullins (5 hits, double, triple, 4 RBIs), Alexa Bianchi-Rossi (4 hits, 2 doubles, 2 RBIs), Adah Bruining (2 hits, 1 RBI), Emery Skinner (2 hits) and Katelyn Brandon (home run) led the way.

"It really sets us up for going back into conference play tomorrow," Steuerwald said. "I think we're in a really good spot. The group is playing hard and working hard. We're still not clicking on all cylinders on the offensive side but we know we've still got room for improvement."

The Rhinos (4-0 in Region 10) play six straight league games beginning with Thursday's 1 p.m. doubleheader at USC Salkehatchie. They play a 1 p.m. doubleheader Saturday at Florence Darlington Tech before hosting USC Salkehatchie on Sunday at Gastonia's CaroMont Health Park in a 1 p.m. doubleheader.