College Softball Finals – Guilford 8-8, Gwynedd-Mercy 0-1 (6 inn.)

GREENSBORO, N.C. – Freshman Casey Snead (Ellerbe, N.C./Richmond Senior) fanned a school-record 16 batters in her first college start to help Guilford College to an 8-1 softball win over Gwynedd-Mercy College Sunday. Rookie Allie Nicholson (Lexington, N.C./North Davidson) homered and junior Brittany Donathan (Archdale, N.C./Trinity) tossed a two-hit shutout in the Quakers’ 8-0, six-inning nightcap win that completed the doubleheader sweep.

The Griffins (0-2) tallied in their first at-bat of the season when Jennifer Whalen scored on a wild pitch. Snead ended the threat by striking out the next two batters and embarked on a sterling three-hit performance. She struck out the side in the first, fourth and sixth innings and did not allow a Griffin past second base after the first inning. Her 16 strikeouts surpassed the previous mark of 15 set by Jessica Burcham ’13 (Lexington, N.C./South Davidson) in 2011.

Guilford (4-0) tied the game in the bottom of the first when a Callie Pastor grounder scored Cynthia Hayes (Seagrove, N.C./Southwestern Randolph), who had tripled. The Quakers broke the game open with a six-run third inning that featured a three-run double by senior Sarah Cutright.

Hayes finished with three hits in the game and Pastor finished with two RBI.

Hayes doubled and scored in the bottom of the first of game two, which spotted Donathan (1-0) an early 1-0 lead. Rachel Howard’s RBI groundout plated the Quakers’ second run in the third inning and Nicholson doubled the margin with her first college homer, a two-run shot to center in the fifth. Howard’s run-scoring double capped Guilford’s four-run sixth and ended the game due to the eight-run rule.

Donathan yielded a lead-off single to Whalen, but did not allow another hit until Stephanie Farrar singled in the top of the sixth. The junior right-hander fanned five and walked two in her first college shutout. She helped her cause at the plate with two hits, including an RBI single in the sixth. Cutright and fellow captain Autumn Yoder also collected two hits.

Guilford visits Greensboro College Wednesday at the Greensboro Boys and Girls Club. First pitch is 2:00 p.m.

Guilford 8, Gwynedd-Mercy 1 (Feb 24, 2013 at Greensboro, NC) (Game 1)

----------------------------------------------------------------------
   Gwynedd-Mercy....... 100 000 0 -  1  3  1      (0-1)
   Guilford............ 106 100 X -  8  7  0      (3-0)
----------------------------------------------------------------------

Pitchers: Gwynedd-Mercy – Johnson, Kaitlyn; Lamont, Ashley(3) and Seserko, Maria. Guilford – Casey Snead and Kelsey Rice; Alex Todd.
Win-Casey Snead(1-0) Loss-Johnson, Kaitlyn(0-1) T-1:40 A-75
Weather: 55, sunny, breezy
Game notes:
nonconference game
Freshman Casey Snead struck out a school-record 16 batters in her first college start.
Game: GCS-03

Guilford 8, Gwynedd-Mercy 0 (Feb 24, 2013 at Greensboro, NC) (Game 2)

----------------------------------------------------------------------
   Gwynedd-Mercy....... 000 000  -  0  2  4      (0-2)
   Guilford............ 101 024  -  8 13  1      (4-0)
----------------------------------------------------------------------

Pitchers: Gwynedd-Mercy – Lamont, Ashley and Seserko, Maria. Guilford – Brittany Donathan and Sarah Cutright.
Win-Brittany Donathan(1-0) Loss-Lamont, Ashley(0-1) T-1:21 A-75
HR GC – Allie Nicholson.
Weather: 55, sunny, breezy
Game: GCS-04