ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. – The University of South Carolina Aiken softball team completed the three-game sweep at Flagler with a 7-4 victory Sunday afternoon.
The Pacers are now 29-18 on the season, including 11-10 in league play. The Saints fall to 25-23 on the year. Flagler is 9-12 in the PBC.
Head coach
Jaclin Poole's team got on the board with a run in the first frame.
Lauren Wexler was the catalyst, getting things started with a lead-off single. She moved to second on a passed ball and third on a sacrifice bunt. She scored on a sacrifice fly by
Emily Ayers for a 1-0 lead.
Jena Dewalt singled to lead off the second and scored on
Skylar Morley's double to left field for a 2-0 advantage.
Brooke Moore increased the margin in the fourth inning with a lead-off round-tripper. It marked her 12
th of the season.
USC Aiken extended the advantage to 7-0 in the fifth.
Mallory Shaver singled and
Courtney Leisner came in as a pinch runner.
Taylor Butts laid down a sacrifice bunt to move Leisner to second base. A Wexler single helped Leisner go to third.
Brianna Dow drew a walk to load the bags.
Ayers singled in Leisner and Moore followed it up with a double to left center field, which drove in two. Later in the frame Moore scored on a wild pitch for the seven-run lead.
Flagler made it a 7-4 game with four runs in the bottom of the sixth off a home run and Poole brought in
Payton Baker out of the bullpen. She got the final out of the inning with a strikeout and forced the Saints into three fly ball outs to end the game.
For the contest, Dewalt, Moore and Wexler had two hits apiece. Moore drove in three runs and scored twice. Wexler crossed home twice as well while Ayers drove in two.
In the circle,
Lakyn Phillips worked 5.2 innings and had six strikeouts to pick up the win. Baker tossed the final 1.1 frames and had a strikeout to notch the save.
The Pacers return to action Saturday when they host Columbus State in a doubleheader starting at 2 p.m. Live stats and video will be available at PacerSports.com.