For Immediate Release April 17, 1999
Maroons Split Home Double-Header With Virginia Wesleyan
Maroons Improve to 29-7, 11-1 on the Season
SALEM, Va.--The Roanoke College softball team split a double-header with the Virginia Wesleyan Marlins on Saturday afternoon, falling in the first contest, 5-2, before rebounding to take a 9-2 decision in the second game. The Maroons, ranked fifth in this week’s NCAA Atlantic Regional poll, are now 29-7 on the season and 11-1 in the Old Dominion Athletic Conference. The split sets up an important double-header with Randolph-Macon on Sunday afternoon. If the Maroons sweep the Yellow Jackets, they will secure the number-one seed heading into next weekend’s conference tournament to be held at the Moyer Sports Complex in Salem. Game 1
Virginia Wesleyan got three unearned runs off of three Roanoke errors in the final three innings to take the 5-2 victory. The loss ended Roanoke’s school-record winning streak at 13 games.
Heading into the top of the fifth inning, Wesleyan held a slim 2-0 advantage. After getting the first out, Roanoke committed two errors on the next three plays, allowing two VWC baserunners to score. The Maroons responded by scoring two runs in the bottom of the inning to close the gap to 4-2. Kelly Gouldthorpe (Madison Heights, VA/Amherst County) led off the Roanoke half of the inning with a single and was driven home on an Amy Layman (Salem, VA/Glenvar) one-bag safety. Crystal Hileman (St.Paul, VA/St. Paul), the inning’s second batter, who also reached on a single, was brought to the plate on a sacrifice fly by Holly Morris (Barrington, RI/Barrington).
After cutting the lead to just two, Roanoke hurt itself, again, in the seventh, booting another ball that led to Virginia Wesleyan’s third unearned run of the contest.
Game 2
The second game started off much the way the first game ended, with Virginia Wesleyan scoring an unearned run. The Marlins first batter of the game got on via an RC error and eventually came around to score. VWC extended its lead to 2-0 in the second inning before Roanoke reeled off nine straight runs over the next four innings to cruise to the 9-2 win.
Roanoke scored three runs in the second, three in the third, and two in the fourth to take control of the game. The team added one more run in the fifth inning. Suzanne Maddox (Amherst, VA/Amherst County) led off the second with a single and was driven to third on a double by Liz Croy (Salem, VA/Salem). Hileman’s fielders choice allowed Maddox to score, while a ground-out by Layman sent Croy home.
Another double by Croy, this coming in the third inning, drove in Kari Whitney (Roanoke, VA/Cave Spring), who had reached on a lead-off walk, and Maddox, who had hit her second single of the contest.
Layman picked up her 17th win of the season in the second contest, allowing just one earned run on three hits. Maddox finished the game going 3-for-4 at the plate, while Hileman hit her team-leading seventh homerun of the season and fifth in the past two weeks. Croy and Morris eached added two hits in the win.