ASHLAND, VA—Yellow Jackets' freshmen Kelly Beard and
Heather Lewis combined for 15 shutout innings as R-MC swept
Virginia Wesleyan in a doubleheader 1-0 and 2-0 in Ashland
Thursday.
VWC starting pitcher Brittaney Brown and R-MC's Beard
(Williamsport, MD/ Williamsport) were locked in a scoreless
pitcher's duel throughout the first seven innings of game
one.
The Marlins threatened to score in the fifth when Chelsea
Henline rounded third and headed home on a single before the
Jackets' leftfielder Megan Shepherd (South View, VA/ Park
View) gunned her out at the plate.
Shepherd stepped to the plate for R-MC in the bottom of the
eighth with a runner on second and singled, scoring Paige Smith
(Harborton, VA/ Nandua) to give Randolph-Macon a 1-0 win.
Beard struck out three in eight innings of work to earn the
complete game shutout win. Brown is stuck with the loss after
allowing no earned runs and striking out seven in seven and a third
innings.
Virginia Wesleyan put a runner on third in both the first and
third innings of game two but could not push across a run.
Shepherd led off the third with a single for the Jackets and
scored later in the inning on a Morgan Greene (Virginia Beach, VA/
Tallwood) double. Lauryn Nanny (Chester, VA/ Thomas Dale) then
followed with a single, scoring Greene and giving Randolph-Macon a
2-0 lead.
The 2-0 lead would be more than enough for R-MC starting pitcher
Lewis (Glen Allen, VA/ Deep Run) who pitched seven scoreless
innings with eight strikeouts on the way to her fourth win of the
season.
Greene paced the Jackets at the plate with a double and an RBI;
Nanny also drove in a run and had a single.
Randolph-Macon Softball will be back in action Wednesday, April
7th when they travel to Emory and Henry for a 2:30
doubleheader.
