NEWPORT NEWS, Va. -- In an exciting back-and-forth day at Captains Park, the nationally-ranked Christopher Newport softball team escaped with a pair of walk-off wins against Greensboro College (9-9) on Friday afternoon to extend its win streak to 11 straight games.
Candace Slaw led the way in game one, going 5-for-5 with the game-tying RBI before scoring the game-winning run in the bottom of the seventh to lift CNU to a 10-9 win, and
Natalie Quinlan had the big blow in the bottom of the eighth of game two, hitting a two-run blast to capture a 7-6 win on the walk-off homer.
The Captains improve to 14-4 on the season with 11 straight wins after the doubleheader sweep against the Pride. CNU has also won eleven in a row against Greensboro, dating back to the 2011 season when the two were conference foes in the USA South Athletic Conference.
With the 10-9 win in game one, head coach
Keith Parr recorded his 750th career win and ranks in the top-25 all-time at Division III in career wins. With two wins on Saturday, he improves to 751-214-1 for a winning percentage of .778, which ranks in the top-ten all-time at Division III and in the top-25 across all three levels of NCAA play.
In game one, the Captains took an 8-2 lead after five but the Pride scored two in the sixth and took the lead with five runs including a go-ahead grand slam in the top of the seventh. That would set up the theatrics for game one, as Slaw smacked her fifth hit of the day to drive in pinch runner
Kelsie Rogers with an RBI double to tie things up, 9-9. Then,
Mackenzie Sowonik hit a deep fly ball to right field that would have ended the Captains' threat, but a drop by the outfielder allowed Slaw to race home with the winning run .
In game two, a similar script followed with CNU opening a 5-2 lead after three innings before the visitors clawed back with four unanswered to take a 6-5 lead in the top of the eighth. The first batter of the bottom half, though, was Quinlan and she powered CNU to another win with a two-run blast to left field that ended the game, 7-6.
For the day, Slaw led the offense with six hits in eight at-bats including a double, a triple, and three runs scored.
Isabel Hall added a multi-hit game in the night cap, going 2-for-4 with an RBI out of the cleanup spot for the Captains.
In the circle, rookie
Cora Grace Sparger improved to 7-2 after a complete game effort in the opener while striking out seven batters. Junior
Haylee Callahan went the distance in game two, tossing a career-high 8.0 innings while striking out seven to capture her sixth win in eight starts this year.
The electrifying play started from the opening batter of the day when Sparger induced a short pop-up toward first base in foul ground.
Brooke Zuber charged in from a long distance and made a highlight-reel diving catch to record the first out of the game in sensational fashion. In the bottom of the firt, the Captains started the offense by manufacturing the first of 17 runs scored on the day. Slaw reached on a base-hit bunt to start game and promptly stole second base.
Alexah Gordon laid down a sacrifice bunt and Slaw came home on a sacrifice fly by Hall.
In the second inning, the two runs came in a little louder with freshman
Olivia Miller blistering a double down the left field line to start the action. Quinlan and
Kimberly Jones walked to load the bases and Slaw came up with one out. Shooting a hard groundball through the hole the other way, Slaw drove in one and teh Captains took a 2-0 lead. Pinch hitter
Katrina Swan then slashed a screamer toward second base that got knocked down and drove in another run for the Captains.
Three more runs scored in the bottom of the fourth when Slaw added another RBI single off the drawn in third baseman and Zuber sprayed a double into left field to drive in a run. A run came in on a wild pitch between the two RBI knocks. Then, in the fifth, CNU took an 8-2 lead with two more runs when Slaw showed off her speed with a triple to center field. Jones reached on a single to the hole at short and
Cora Thomas singled into right field ahead of Slaw, who snagged her third consecutive RBI base hit with a laser that got by the center fielder for a three-base hit.
In game two, the junior center fielder kept her hot bat going with a hit in her sixth consecutive plate appearance, leading off the game with a single up the middle. The run ended with her next at bat on a sacrifice bunt, but the six straight plate appearances with a hit was the most by a Captain since she recorded seven straight last season from March 9-14.
With Slaw on base, she stole second again and Swan followed with a single and a stolen base of her own. Zuber stepped in and blasted a three-run home run over the wall in right center field to get CNU on the board first, 3-0.
Greensboro trimmed the lead to one, 3-2, with two runs in the third, but CNU immediately grabbed the three-run advantage back in the next half inning. Zuber walked and Rogers scored on an RBI single by Hall after pinch running for the CNU first baseman.
Mackenzie Sowonik, Jones, and Thomas all walked to drive in the second run with a bases-loaded free pass for the latter against the Greensboro pitcher.
The Pride scored once in the fifth and added two more in the sixth to tie the game at five runs apiece. With neither team able to score in the seventh inning, the game went to the eighth. The Pride manufactured one run with a groundball to the right side and an RBI double to plate the placed runner from second in extra innings. Callahan stranded the runner, though, with a sacrifice bunt and a groundball to the left side to end the inning.
Facing a one-run deficit, the Captains called on pinch runner
Alexah Gordon to serve as the baserunner at second, and Quinlan led off the inning. After taking the first pitch for a ball, Quinlan hammered the next pitch deep enough, but foul. Then, she straightened out the next one and left the yard with a two-run blast to win game two for the Captains.
CNU will return to action on Sunday as they face Randolph-Macon College for a pair starting at 1:00 p.m.
