RALEIGH, N.C. – Senior
Hannah Price threw a no-hitter as the University of South Carolina Aiken softball team recorded a sweep of St. Augustine's by scores of 13-0 and 16-1 Tuesday afternoon.
The Pacers are now 13-9 on the season.
Price was also sensational in the circle, striking out 10 batters without allowing a hit. It marked her first career no-hit bid. The no-hitter was the first for a Pacer since India Kornegay tossed a no-hitter against North Georgia on March 23, 2014.
In game one, head coach
Jerry Snyder's team took the lead in the top of the first.
Courtney Strauss was hit by a pitch and swiped second before moving to third on a sacrifice bunt from
Katie Painter.
Hannah Price drove her in on a grounder for a 1-0 advantage.
Sarah Sams pushed the margin to 2-0 in the second. She was hit by a pitch before swiping two bases before scoring on a wild pitch.
The Pacers pushed it to 3-0 when
Kathleen St. Peter drove in Price, who had reached earlier on a single. In the fourth,
Maci Hutto blasted her first career homer for a 4-0 lead. Sams singled and later crossed home plate on a double steal, which allowed
Hanna Hyder to take second.
USC Aiken increased the advantage to 6-0 when Price scored on a passed ball in the fifth. Price singled to lead off the inning, stole second and moved to third on a groundout.
Snyder's team broke it open in the sixth with seven runs. Hyder led off with a single, stole second and later scored on an error. With the bases loaded,
Deja Robinson scored on a passed ball. Price crushed a two-run homer and Hutto later tripled in a pair of runs. Sams groundout that scored Hutto provided the final 13-0 margin.
The team combined for a school-record tying nine thefts. Hyder and Sams had three steals each while Painter, Price and Strauss each had one.
Price went three-for-four at the plate with three RBI and three runs scored. Hutto and Painter had a pair of hits. Hutto drove in three while St. Peter had one RBI. Hutto and Sams each crossed home twice.
The Pacers didn't take long to break open game two, plating 10 runs in the first inning. The big plays in the inning came from the bats of Sams, who posted a two-RBI single and Price, who roped a single down the line for two RBI.
Leading 13-1 heading into the fifth inning, USC Aiken tacked on three more runs. Two came off the bat of
Sydney Burk, who registered a double that scored Price and
Katelyn Powell.
Janee McCarthy's double scored Burk for the team's final run of the game.
For the contest, Cockrell went the distance, striking out 11 while giving up one run on two hits in five innings.
The Pacers return to action Thursday when they host Erskine in a doubleheader starting at 4 p.m. Live stats and video will be available at PacerSports.com.