SALEM, Va. – Brittany Willingham’s three-run, two-out double in the fifth broke a 2-2 tie and sent Randolph College to an 11-4 win over Guilford College Thursday night in the Old Dominion Athletic Conference (ODAC) Softball Tournament.
Six seven of the Wildcats’ first seven runs were unearned as the Quakers’ committed a season-high five errors, all in the first five innings. Guilford had four errors in Randolph’s five-run fifth inning.
The Wildcats (21-17) enters the tournament’s second day with a perfect 2-0 record. Guilford (26-14) plays Friday at 11:00 a.m. versus Bridgewater College in an elimination game.
Guilford rallied from an early 2-0 deficit and tied the game with single runs in the top of the fourth and fifth innings. Two Quakers’ errors in the bottom of the fifth inning loaded up the bases with one away for Willingham, who emptied the bases with her league-leading 17th double of the year. Another miscue let Wililngham take third on the play. The Quakers’ fourth error in the frame led to the Wildcats’ seventh run and chased starting pitcher Ashley Boteler (8-4) from the circle.
Guilford scored on a wild pitch and on an Autumn Yoder double in the top of the sixth, which made the score 7-4, but Logan Carter replaced Kristen Hutchinson (9-8) and secured the inning’s third out for her league-leading fourth save of the year.
Willingham had a two-run double in Randolph’s four-run seventh inning and finished with two hits and five RBI. Lauren Stevenson and Julie Helton both added two hits and an RBI for the Wildcats.
Yoder was three-for-three with an RBI for Guilford. Teammates Sarah Cutright and Ami Hutcherson both added two hits.
The Quakers won their first game Thursday, 2-0, over Randolph-Macon College. Jessica Burcham (Lexington, N.C./South Davidson) threw a two-hit shutout, her school-record seventh of the season. Guilford scored its runs in the first inning on a two-run single by Morgan Andrews.
Burcham (14-5) allowed singles in the third and fourth innings, but did not let a Randolph-Macon (21-12) runner past second base all game. She had a strikeout in every inning and struck out the side in the seventh. The contest marked her sixth of the season with 10 or more strikeouts.
Guilford 2, Randolph-Macon 0 (Apr 21, 2011 at Salem, VA) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Guilford............ 200 000 0 - 2 5 2 (26-13) Randolph-Macon...... 000 000 0 - 0 2 2 (21-12) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Pitchers: Guilford - Jessica Burcham and Morgan Andrews. Randolph-Macon - Heather Lewis and Laura Bauer. Win-Jessica Burcham(14-5) Loss-Heather Lewis(9-7) T-1:34 A-95 Weather: 65 and breezy Game notes: Old Dominion Athletic Conference Tournament Game 2 Game: GCS-39 Randolph 11, Guilford 4 (Apr 21, 2011 at Salem, VA) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Guilford............ 000 112 0 - 4 10 5 (26-14) Randolph............ 020 054 X - 11 9 3 (21-17) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Pitchers: Guilford - Ashley Boteler; Jessica Rowland(5) and Morgan Andrews. Randolph - Kristen Hutchinson; Logan Carter(6) and Alexis Arnett. Win-Kristen Hutchinson(9-8) Save-Logan Carter(4) Loss-Ashley Boteler(8-4) T-1:40 A-197 Weather: Mid-60's and breezy Game notes: Old Dominion Athletic Conference Tournament game Game: GCS-40