BEREA, Ky.—Agnes Scott Softball's long trip to Kentucky was met with a disappointing finish as the Scotties were swept by the Mountaineers of Berea on Saturday. The Mountaineers overcame a 6-0 deficit in game one to beat the Scotties 10-8 before edging Agnes Scott 6-5 in the finale.
Agnes Scott sees its record fall to 5-25, but more importantly, a 2-10 mark in the USA South. With the two wins, Berea moves ahead of the Scotties in the conference standings at 3-9. The Mountaineers also have an 11-19 tally overall through 30 games. Each team has two conference series remaining.
Game One
The Scotties made an important statement early in game one, scoring four runs Berea got its first swings of the day. Needing to put some space between them and the Mountaineers in the standings, Agnes Scott looked poised to do just that when KayLeigh Fitzgerald (Dalton, Ga.) capped off a four-run first with a two-run jack, her third of the season.
Agnes Scott extended its lead in the third with RBI from Kayla Quesenberry (Inverness, Fla.) and Jessica Costero (Miami, Fla.), pushing it to a 6-0 game in full Agnes control.
Berea chipped away at bit at the Scottie armor with three runs coming after the second out was recorded. Abby Nash (Berea, Ky.) singled in a pair of runs before scoring on a fielding error by the Scotties to make it a 6-3 game.
The Mountaineers took another run off the deficit in the fourth with another clutch double from Ashley Spencer (Oregon City, Ore.) to score a run.
The wheels fell off completely for the Scotties in the bottom of the sixth. Jacqui Howard (Kailua, Hi.) and Nash homered just two batters apart to finish off a six-run frame and put the Scotties completely on their heels in a matter of moments.
The Scottie offense did its best to recover from the shock, scoring two before there were two outs on the board. However, Agnes left the tying run stranded at second base.
Game Two
Agnes Scott kept its early-inning magic going with a RBI single from Sarah Fox (Cartersville, Ga.) in the opening inning, but Berea answered with a two-RBI double from Nash and a two-run homer off the back of Savannah Fallis (Berea, Ky.) to make it a 4-1 game.
The Scotties battled right back with RBI from Caitlin Weaver (Jacksonville, Fla.) and another from Fox in the second before Fitzgerald launched her second home run of the day to tie the score in the third.
Agnes and Berea traded runs in the fourth and fifth to put the game at 5-5 entering the sixth.
Kara Winchester (Lexington, Ky.) brought in the eventual game-winner with a sacrifice fly in the sixth.
Stats to Know
- Agnes Scott outhit Berea 31-17 for the day, but left 20 runners on base.
- Fitzgerald went 4-for-4 at the dish in game one and finished with five hits, four runs scored and three RBI for the day. The two-homer day also puts her in the team lead with four on the season.
- Nash was the leading hitter on the day with six runs driven in for the Mountaineers.
- Agnes Scott has an increasingly important series at Huntingdon on Wednesday before finishing off the regular season at home versus Wesleyan next Saturday.