College Softball Finals – Guilford 8-14, Roanoke 3-6

GREENSBORO, N.C. – Guilford College rapped out 34 hits and scored 22 runs in 11 innings Saturday to sweep visiting Roanoke College in an Old Dominion Athletic Conference (ODAC) softball doubleheader. The Quakers won the opener, 8-3, and took game two, 14-6, in six innings.

The wins upped Guilford’s overall record to 20-7 (6-6 ODAC). Roanoke falls to 15-14 (5-7 ODAC).

Sophomore Katie McNeill threw a complete game and smacked a two-run homer in the Quakers’ 8-3 opening-game victory. She improved to 13-3 on the season and needs two wins to Guilford’s season wins record. McNeill scattered seven hits, four walks and three runs, all in the fifth inning, which brought the Maroons within 6-3. She responded in the bottom of the fifth with a two-out, two-run home run to center field, her first of the season.

Natalie Conrad and Katy Holt both had three hits for the Quakers. Makayla Crawford was 1-for-3 with three RBI. Makayla Carver went 2-for-2 with two walks and two stolen bases.

Roanoke’s Meagan Evans had two hits and two RBI. Teammates Rebecca Hensley and Shanan Hester also had two hits. Teresa Wagner lasted 4.2 innings in which she gave up 12 hits and six earned runs.

The Quakers had 22 hits in the nightcap, fifth-best in school history. Sarah Aukamp led the hit parade with four. Casey Bunting went 3-for-5 with a game- and career-high five RBI. She belted one of the Quakers’ three homers in the game, a two-run shot in the five-run first inning. Carver, Holt, and Sarah Adams also had three hits for Guilford. Holt homered in the third and finished the day with six hits and two RBI in two games.

Guilford grabbed a 7-0 lead after three innings, but Roanoke sent 10 batters to the plate in the fourth. After Quakers’ starter Abigayle Rowell retired the inning’s leadoff hitter, Roanoke had five straight batters reach base thanks to four hits and a Quakers’ error. Rebecca Hensley’s RBI groundout made it a 7-3 game and ended Rowell’s. Brooke Trapuzzano greeted reliever Makayla Carver with a two-run double to right that made it a 7-5 game. Carver fanned Evans with runners on the corners to end the rally.

Savannah Yale hit Guilford’s third homer of the game, a three-run, sixth-inning blast. Carver followed with a double over the centerfielder and scored on Aukamp’s fourth hit, an RBI double down the left-field line. Bunting followed with a line single to left that plated Crawford and ended the game.

Carver (1-0) got the win in her second pitching appearance of the season. She yielded one run and four hits in two-and-a-third innings.

Guilford’s Natalie Conrad tripled in both games of the doubleheader. She broke Jennifer Franklin’s ’05 school record with her ninth career triple in game two. The hit also tied Caroline Barnette’s season triples mark of five set in 2015.

Roanoke starter Emily Salsberry (6-5) took the loss and did not get out of the first inning. The Maroons used four different pitchers in the second game. Trappuzano’s 3-for-4 showing with two doubles and three RBI led the visitors’ offense.

Coach Dennis Shores’ club hosts league-foe Emory & Henry College Sunday (4/7) at 1:00 p.m. on the Quakers annual Senior Day.