PORTSMOUTH – Two grand slams from Abbey Barrett helped lift softball past St. Catharine for a doubleheader sweep on Tuesday in Mid-South Conference action. Barrett's grand slam in the opening was a walk-off home run in the bottom of the seventh to lift the Bears (10-7, 4-4 MSC) to a 5-1 win. Her grand slam in game two capped a seven-run second inning that saw Shawnee State go on to defeat the Patriots (7-10, 5-5 MSC) by an 11-1 score in five innings.
The opening game turned into a pitcher's duel early between SSU's Allie Chapman and St. Catharine's Krystal Caummuse. Shawnee State opened the scoring with a run in the bottom of the second. Tara Duncan was hit by a pitch to start the inning, while Tara Prater doubled into left field to put runners on second and third. A strikeout and fielder's choice to cut down the run at home left the Bears with no runs in and two down, but Kelsey Jenkins dropped a single into centerfield and made the score 1-0 before the second runner was tagged out trying to score on that same play.
The Patriots get on the board with a solo home run from Tiffany Wickline to make the score 1-1 after five full innings. Chapman would also have to strand a one-out triple in the sixth by getting a pop up in foul territory and groundout to first.
After retiring the side in order in the seventh, Hannah Foster started off the bottom half of the inning with a leadoff single. Duncan then looked to bunt her over into scoring position but the throw to first was not handled and the runners went to second and third with no out. The Patriots walked Tara Prater to set up a force at every base, but Barrett made sure that was not an issue with her grand slam over the centerfield fence to give the Bears a 5-1 victory.
Chapman picked up the win with a complete game effort to improve to 6-4 on the year. She allowed just four hits and the one home run, while striking out six batters.
In the second game, St. Catharine got on the board in the top of the first with a pair of doubles. However, Shawnee State responded with 11 unanswered runs the rest of the game to pick up the run-rule victory and the daily sweep.
A leadoff single from Hannah Dittoe and walk to Holly Brabson set the table for SSU in the second inning. Foster and Prater each singled home runs to start the scoring. Chapman drove in the third run of the inning on a sacrifice fly that was dropped in the outfield. That extra out would come back to bite the Patriots as a single by Jenkins loaded the bases for Barrett and she delivered her second grand slam of the day over the left centerfield fence to make it 7-1.
The Bears put the game in a run-rule possibility with four more runs in the bottom of the fourth. After two quick outs, Barrett just missed her third home run of the day with a double off the left field fence. Dittoe followed that up with another double to make it 8-1. Brabson walked and Foster recorded the Bears' third double of the inning to score a pair of runs before an RBI single from Prater closed the scoring for the Bears in that inning.
With the 11-1 lead, SSU starter Miranda Pauley allowed just an infield single in the top of the fifth, improving her season record to 4-1 with the complete game victory. Pauley allowed five hits in her five innings. She also struck out two batters.
Softball will be back on the road this weekend with a pair of MSC doubleheaders against Bluefield (Mar. 21 at 2 p.m.) and Pikeville (Mar. 22 at 1 p.m.)
