GREENWOOD, S.C. | The Young Harris College softball team swept a Peach Belt Conference doubleheader from Lander University Saturday (March 18) afternoon at Doug Spears Field.
The Mountain Lions won the opener 5-4 before taking the nightcap 7-6. YHC improved to 13-18 overall and to 5-6 inside the league, while the Bearcats fell to 15-10 and 6-5. The teams will wrap up their three-game series with a 1 p.m. contest Sunday (March 19).
INSIDE THE BOXSCORES:
GAME 1
- The Mountain Lions generated all their runs from the long ball.
- YHC tied the game at 1 on Addie Heal's homer to left field in the second inning. It was her first of the season.
- The Mountain Lions took a 3-1 lead an inning later on Hannah Carey's two-run blast to left-center field. It was Carey's team-leading 11th long ball of 2023.
- Grace Young and Hannah Rizzuto started the sixth inning with back-to-back jacks to left field to give Young Harris a 5-1 lead. Rizzuto now has five homer runs.
- YHC had 10 hits with Carey, Trinity Aycock and Heal leading the way with two hits each.
- Kylie Ferguson (5-7) pitched a complete game for the Mountain Lions.
GAME 2
- The Mountain Lions scored in every inning but the sixth.
- Carey gave the Mountain Lions a 1-0 lead with an RBI single in the first.
- YHC made it 2-1 in the second on Amber Divine's sacrifice fly to right field.
- Heal stroked a run-scoring single to right-center in the third to give YHC a 3-2 lead.
- Bailee Brown contributed an inside-the-park homer down the left field line as the Mountain Lions took a 4-2 lead in the fourth.
- A wild pitch and a Brown RBI single in the fifth gave YHC a 6-2 advantage.
- Young Harris an insurance run in the top of the seventh on Gracie Hughes' single through the right side to give the Mountain Lions a 7-5 lead.
- Brown and Heal each led the 12-hit attack for the Mountain Lions with four hits apiece.
- Young (3-4) earned the win, while Jill Dixon earned her second save of 2023.
