HARTSVILLE, S.C. – The Coker Cobras were a part of a pair of shutouts on Tuesday in their final regular season Conference Carolinas games at home against Erskine College. In one game they were the winners, 1-0, but in the other they were on the wrong end of 5-0 Erskine Flying Fleet victory.
After the doubleheader Coker is placed in a three way tie for third place in conference standings, while Erskine secures the #2 seed in the upcoming Conference Carolinas Softball Tournament. Depending on the outcome of the last few conference games remaining tomorrow, Coker should remain the #3 seed heading into tournament play on Friday.
GAME ONE
In game one Coker’s senior left-handed pitcher and Conference Carolinas Pitcher of the Week, Sydney Greenwalt (Edwardsville, Ill.) tossed a three hit, complete game shut out to lead the Cobras to a 1-0 victory. Greenwalt (11-7) also added two strikeouts in the game.
Equally as good on the mound was Erskine’s Kelsey Spurrier (9-8), as she allowed just one run on two hits with five strikeouts in the loss.
Sophomore outfielder Sarah Rountree (Plantation, Fla.) drove in the lone run of the game on a sacrifice fly in the third, while Gina Easler (Edgefield, S.C.) had a double and scored Coker’s only run. Stacy Burr had Coker’s second hit of the day, also a double.
For Erskine, Larissa Shannon, Morgan Purcell and Lindsey LaPrad each had a hit.
GAME TWO
Game two saw a completely different Erskine team show up to play, especially in the pitcher’s circle. Even though Spurrier was superb in game one, Heather Richey was literally unhittable. Richey tossed a complete game no-hitter against the Cobras in game two, missing the perfect game by just one walk, which as issued to the very first batter she faced.
Richey (11-4) finished the game with three strikeouts, while on the other side of the field, Becky Dillon (West Palm Beach Fla.) (5-7) took the loss. She went 5.1 innings allowing four runs on seven hits with three strikeouts.
The Fleet offense used nine hits to plate five runs. Five of those nine hits were doubles; two by Shannon, two by Purcell and another from Bailey Thornton. Ashlyn Hicks drove in two runs with two hits and Purcell, Shannon and Thornton each drove in a run.
The win in game one inched Coker Head Coach David Hanna one win closer to his 700th career win. He now has 698 wins.
Coker will now take a few days rest until they begin play at the conference softball tournament on Friday. The official seeding and schedule will be released on Wednesday night following the last remaining regular season games.