NEWBERRY – The Newberry softball team concluded their round robin tournament with wins over Mercyhurst and Claflin on Sunday at the Smith Road Complex.
The Wolves move to 4-0 on the season for the first time since 2016. Mercyhurst falls to 0-4 while Claflin moves to 2-2.
Game One vs. Mercyhurst
Selice Daley pitched six scoreless innings while recording five strikeouts and only allowing two hits as the Wolves cruised to an 8-0 victory against Mercyhurst.
After two scoreless innings, the Wolves started reeling in the runs in the bottom of the third when
Natalie Willis made it to third base after a dropped ball in center field.
Haley Simonds drove in Willis on a sacrifice fly with the next at bat.
In the bottom of the fourth,
Julia Bomhardt got on base with a hit up the middle of the field. Newberry ended up with runners on the corners after Bomhardt stole two bases and
McKenzie Barneycastle walked. Willis and Simonds ended up driving in both runners on back-to-back sacrifice flies to give the Wolves a 3-0 lead.
Daley was forced into a tough situation in the top of the fifth with the bases loaded and two outs but struck out the next batter looking to hold the Lakers scoreless.
Willis and
Hannah Davis drove in five more runs across the next two innings, effectively ending the game early in the sixth.
Game Two vs. Claflin
Davis homered for the fourth time in four games as the Wolves picked up a 9-5 win over Claflin.
Tatum Johnson drove in a single run to get the scoring started for the Wolves in the second inning. Simonds tacked on two more in the third on a double to left field in the third while Davis crushed a three-run homer in the fifth to give Newberry a 6-0 lead.
Claflin responded in the sixth inning with five runs, breaking
Alyssa Ball's no-hitter in the process.
Barneycastle finished the scoring on a inside-the-park homerun when the Mocksville, N.C. native powered a ball past Claflin's left fielder who dove for the ball. The two runners on base ran home while Barneycastle narrowly beat the tag at the plate after Claflin's center fielder retrieved the ball and had to throw it to the cutoff and then home on the play.
Ball picked up her second win of the season recording a career-best eight strikeouts across five innings.
Up Next:
The Wolves will head to Erskine for a doubleheader against the Flying Fleet on Thursday, February 7th at 1/3 PM.
