Softball stumbles, exits PBC early
The Lady Bobcats’ softball season ended Saturday at the Peach Belt Conference Tournament after losses to Francis Marion and USC Upstate.
Francis Marion (36-12) held onto a 2-0 victory over Georgia College & State University (24-17) Friday, defeating the Lady Bobcats in the first round of the tournament hosted by USC Aiken.
In the double elimination tournament, the Patriots scored in the first inning with on an RBI double from Janine Allen. Allen later scored on an error, producing a 2-0 lead the Lady Bobcats never recovered from.
The Lady Bobcats threatened during the next three innings with doubles from Diana Baruffa and Nikki Smith, but to no avail.
Patriots’ starting pitcher Jessica Johnson (20-7) got the win with a four-hit shutout and five strikeouts. Jenna Kubesch (15-9) received the loss, allowing one earned run on two hits with six strikeouts.
“Jenna pitched a good game,” said GC&SU Interim Head Coach Ginger Miller. “We just couldn’t get enough runners on base in a couple of innings, and we couldn’t drive anybody in.”
The Lady Bobcats came back strong the next day, defeating UNC Pembroke 6-0 with Kubesch pitching a complete game one-hit shutout and Heather Jones launching a grand slam.
The Lady Bobcats began their assault in the first inning when Baruffa scored on a wild pitch. Baruffa, who went 2-3 at the plate, drove in Kubesch in the second inning with a single up the middle, giving GC&SU a 2-0 lead.
With the bases loaded in the second, Jones hit a grand-slam home run, giving the Lady Bobcats all the insurance they needed.
“We had a lot of good things happen that game,” Miller said. “Everybody was hitting the ball.”
The Lady Braves’ starting pitcher Liz Hatcher (7-7) took the loss, allowing six runs, one earned, on four hits and five walks.
The Lady Bobcats ended the day with a 5-0 loss to USC Upstate (41-12).
USC Upstate scored in the first inning on a sacrifice fly by Jenna Keith’s that scored Krista Altom from third base.
A costly GC&SU error in the top of the fourth inning ultimately led to two unearned Spartan runs. Shay Slater delivered an RBI triple, and then scored when Altom hit an infield single giving the Spartans a 3-0 lead going into the fifth.
Ashleigh Beck produced a two-run single for the Spartans in the fifth after a two-out GC&SU error.
The Lady Bobcats began to rally in the sixth inning when Brianna Hope hit a two-run single, but it was too late.
“We just couldn’t get going early enough,” Miller said. “We started hitting the ball in the fifth inning, and there wasn’t enough time for us to get runners in. We didn’t play as well as we could, but we tried to make things happen there at the end.”
The Spartans took the 5-2 victory, eliminating GC&SU from the tournament.
Jessica Jolly (18-5) received the win, allowing two runs on six hits with six strikeouts. Kubesch took the loss, allowing five runs, one earned, on nine hits.
Kubesh said that despite losing the tournament, the Lady Bobcats had an impressive season.
“It’s too late for ‘what-ifs,’ but all the teams in our conference know how well GC&SU can play,” said Kubesch. “Unfortunately, all the games we lost added up to hurt us, but that is why we play, because there is never a guaranteed winner.”
Miller said the Lady Bobcats will primarily work on hitting off-speed pitchers to improve next season.
Posted by Colonnade Archives
on Apr 22 2005. Filed under Sports.
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