MOUNT OLIVE, N.C. – The Cobra softball team picked up a pair of wins over Mount Olive College on Sunday afternoon including a come from behind 9-7 nine inning victory in game two of their Conference Carolinas doubleheader at Mount Olive’s Nancy Chapman Cassell Field.
Coker also used a three-hit shutout by pitcher Sydney Greenwalt (Edwardsville, Ill.) in game one to take a 6-0 victory. The sweep gave the Cobras a record of 21-17 overall and 9-5 in the league. With the losses, Mount Olive dropped to 20-25 overall and 8-8 in conference play.
Kelly Minshew went 4-for-5 in the second contest for the Trojans, while Katie Moore and Aubrey Reinhard each added a pair of hits. Jaclin Poole (Clover, S.C.) was a perfect 5-of-5 in the nightcap for Coker, with four other players collecting a pair of hits each in a 16-hit Cobra attack.
An error to lead off the Coker second opened the door to a three-run inning for the Cobras. Stacy Burr (Darlington, S.C.) took advantage with a two-run double, and Sarah Rountree (Plantation, Fla.) added an RBI single to put Coker up 3-1.
The Cobras extended their lead to 4-1 in the top of the fourth on an RBI single down the left field line by Katie McElveen (Hartsville, S.C.). But singles by Robbin Kennedy and Reinhard to open the bottom of the inning for Mount Olive set the table for a Moore thre-run home run, a shot over the fence down the left field line. Olivia Poplin singled two batters later, stole second and scored on an error to put the Trojans up 5-4.
The lead held until the sixth, when a single by Poole and a Mount Olive error put runners in position for Gina Easler (Edgefield, S.C.), who singled up the middle to score Poole with the game-tying run. Both teams got a runner on in the seventh, but neither made it past first base and the game went to extra innings.
Both teams took advantage of an error in their half of the eighth inning to score the runner placed at second under the international tiebreaking rules. Coker got an additional runner to third in its half, but Mount Olive pitcher Sarah Saunders (7-13) used a strikeout and a pop-up to work out of further danger.
A Reinhard single drove in tiebreak runner Rebekah McDaniel with the Trojans’ run in the bottom of the eighth after the error had advanced McDaniel to third. With runners at first and second and no one out, the Trojans tried to bunt the runners over, but Coker threw out the lead runner instead, and Greenwalt (10-6) got a groundout and a pop-up to get out of the inning.
In the ninth, Coker had runners at second and third with one out when McElveen came up with a key hit, a single up the middle that drove in both runners and gave the Cobras an 8-6 lead. Haleigh Rogers (Ward, S.C.) followed with an infield single, and Poole doubled down the left field line to score McElveen and put Coker up 9-6.
An RBI single by Minshew with two outs scored Mount Olive’s tiebreak runner in the bottom of the ninth, and a McDaniel single brought the potential tying run to the plate in Kennedy, but she tried to check her swing on the first pitch from Greenwalt, and accidentally hit a slow roller down to first base for the final out.
Greenwalt picked up the win after working four innings of relief for starter Jordan Atkinson.
Greenwalt also collected the game one victory after going the distance, walking three and striking out five.
Mount Olive had two of its three hits in the first inning, singles by Kennedy and Reinhard that helped load the bases with one out. However, Greenwalt got a comebacker to the mound and a strikeout to get out of the inning.
She was given a 1-0 lead in the second on a home run by Burr, her fourth of the season. However, Mount Olive starter Carly White (10-9) kept the Cobras in check for the next four innings, and the two teams went to seventh with the score still 1-0.
That’s when Coker erupted with a two-out rally. A single by Sydney Weatherford (Scranton, S.C.) and an RBI single by Bri Jacobs (Bolton, N.C.) started the big inning. Rountree and Sanford followed with singles, the latter one scoring Jacobs. Saunders replaced White on the mound for Mount Olive, but she was greeted by a two-run double from McElveen. Rogers then singled to center, driving home McElveen with the Cobras’ fifth run of the inning.
Both teams have Barton College left on their schedule. The Cobras will visit the Bulldogs on Monday at 1:30 p.m., and Mount Olive will host Barton on Tuesday at 4 p.m.