GC Softball Sweeps Guilford, 5-2 and 7-0

The Pride softball team heads into its California Spring Break trip riding the momentum of a doubleheader sweep of Guilford on Tuesday. Greensboro used a seventh inning outburst in game one to pull out a 5-2 win, and left no doubt who was the better team on this day in a 7-0 drubbing in game two.

Tied at 2-2 heading into the seventh inning of game one, The Pride broke through with three runs on four hits to earn the win. Kelsey Burkett led off the frame with a double, followed by a single up the middle by Kanisha Fogg two hitters later. After Fogg stole second to put runners on second and third with one down, Rebecca Pink hammered a sacrifice fly to left that brought Burkett home. Brittany Evans knocked in Fogg on the next at-bat with a double down the left field line, and added the final run on a single by Hayley Hicks.

Greensboro struck first in this one with two runs in the third. Pink singled to advance Fogg to third, and an error by the left field allowed Fogg to race home for the first run of the day. An RBI single up the middle by Evans concluded the scoring with The Pride on top 2-0. However, the Quakers answered in the bottom of the frame, converting a Greensboro error into two unearned runs to knot the score.

The Pride dominated the boxscore, finishing the game with 11 hits compared to five for Guilford. Fogg went a perfect 3-3 from the plate with two runs scored while Evans, Hicks and Burkett each tallied one hit apiece. Jackie Nicholson earned the win in the circle, tossing a complete game five-hitter to improve to 2-1 on the season.

Greensboro got right to work in game two, racing out to a 2-0 lead after one inning of play. Evans again came through with an RBI base hit, scoring Brittany Teer. Pink also scored on the play, coming home following a throwing error by the center fielder.

The Pride added to the lead in the third with a single run coming on a double to center by Hicks that scored Fogg. Heather Nellis blew the game open in the fifth with a three-run blast to right field to leave the score at 6-0 in favor of Greensboro. The final run of the game came in the seventh, with Nellis scoring on an RBI ground out to third by Teer.

The Pride continued to put on a hitting clinic at the plate, pounding out 14 hits while limiting Guilford to two. Nellis recorded game highs in hits with three, runs with two and RBI with three. Also contributing multiple hits were Teer, Pink, Evans and Hicks. Kelsey Sanfilippo started the game and threw 4.0 innings of one hit ball to pick up the win and stay perfect at 6-0 on the year. Hannah Pennell finished out the final 3.0 innings, allowing only one hit to go along with four strikeouts.

Greensboro is now 8-4 on the season and will open up its California Spring Break slate on Friday with two games against Concordia (IL).