DeLand, Fla. - The Stetson softball team (5-0) remained unbeaten on the year, racking up 19 runs and 28 base hits in an 8-3, 11-3 (5 inn.) doubleheader sweep of visiting Volusia County rival Bethune-Cookman (1-6) Saturday afternoon at Patricia Wilson Field. Senior first baseman Carolyn Boyd (Germantown, Tenn.) had six hits in the doubleheader while freshman catcher Allison Sutherlin (Huntsville, Ala.) handled a bat for the first time as a Hatter and ended up five for seven at the plate.
STETSON 8, BETHUNE-COOKMAN 3 (GAME 1)
The Hatters spotted the Wildcats a 2-0 lead on a Shamaria Engram second inning two-run home run but bounced right back with eight unanswered runs to lock down the victory. A two-out wild pitch in the bottom of the second from B-CU's Shanel Tolbert plated the first run, immediately followed by Sutherlin's two-run double to right in her first career at-bat to put Stetson up for good 3-2.
Sophomore pitcher Meredith Owen (Jackson, Miss.) advanced her own cause with an RBI single up the middle in the third while freshman designated player Courtney Brandt (Dade City, Fla.) essentially put the game out of reach with a three-run home run into the left field bleachers in the bottom of the fifth. Stetson's final run scored in the sixth on a Boyd RBI single.
Boyd and Sutherlin raked three hits apiece for the Hatters in the opener with Brandt adding a single to her fifth inning longball, which was her second of the season. Eight of the nine starters in Stetson's lineup had at least one hit. Owen tied her career high with nine strikeouts in a complete game victory, allowing three runs on nine hits and a walk.
Tolbert took the loss for the Wildcats with eight runs allowed (four earned) on 13 hits and a walk in six innings. She struck out one. Shortstop Aurelia Gamch led the B-CU offense in the opener with three hits, including a double.
STETSON 11, BETHUNE-COOKMAN 3 (GAME 2) - 5 INNINGS
The Hatters pounced on Bethune-Cookman starter Paige Poissant and reliever Tolbert early and often, scoring in every inning en route to an 11-3 run-rule victory in the nightcap. Stetson delivered B-CU "a death by a thousand cuts" as 14 of Stetson's 15 base hits were singles, excepting only a Brandt leadoff double in the fifth.
Stetson also took advantage of some inaccurate throws as Tolbert uncorked four wild pitches in 2.0 relief innings, three of which plated Hatter runs.
B-CU got a first inning run of its own on a wild pitch and got a two-run home run off the bat of catcher Sabrina Ferguson in the fifth, but otherwise it was all Hatters in Game 2. Four runs in the first, including a two-run single by freshman shortstop Demi Meza (Oxnard, Calif.) gave Stetson a lead it would not relinquish. After two runs in the second, three in the third and one in the fourth, the game perhaps fittingly ended on a Tolbert throw getting away from Ferguson and bringing home Brandt with the 11th run in the bottom of the fifth.
Boyd went three for three with an RBI and was joined in the three-hit column by sophomore center fielder Chrissy Morello (Ormond Beach, Fla.) and senior left fielder Brittany Knipp (Land O'Lakes, Fla.). Brandt and Sutherlin each had two base hits and scored two runs.
In the circle, Brandt kept Bethune-Cookman off balance for five innings, scattering three runs (only one earned) on five hits and three walks with three strikeouts to earn her third win of the season. Poissant gave up eight earned runs (nine total) in 2.1 innings to start and took the loss.
Stetson and B-CU match up again tomorrow in a 1:00 pm single game at Patricia Wilson Field to conclude the three-game weekend series. Live Stats and Hatter Vision are available at GoHatters.com.
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