Jordan Brett
photo by Anna Dove/Covenant Sports Information
STAUNTON, Va. -- After an extended losing streak, the Covenant softball team busted out of its slump in a big way on Saturday afternoon at Mary Baldwin.
Jordan Brett hit for the cycle in game two, Kasey Hart had a home run in both games and the Lady Scots rallied in the second game to come away with a doubleheader sweep. Covenant took game one 9-1 and escaped with an 11-6 victory in the nightcap.
Brett becomes the first player in program history to hit for the cycle. The homers for Hart were her first two in her collegiate career.
Game 1: Covenant 9, Mary Baldwin 1
Brett and Shannon Schmitt had two RBIs apiece and Cris Gant tossed a five-inning complete-game as Covenant took game one 9-1.
Hart got things going right away as she led off the game with a home run to center field.
Covenant busted the game open with a five-run second inning that included a two-run single by Brett and a two-run double from Schmitt. A Mary Baldwin error led to the fifth run of the inning as Schmitt scored to make it 6-0.
Covenant added two more runs in the fourth when Amanda English singled home Brett and Joni Johnson followed with an RBI single to center field that plated Schmitt making it 8-0. Morgan Lane capped the Covenant scoring with an RBI single in the fifth that made it 9-0 at the time.
Mary Baldwin tallied a run in the bottom of the inning but Covenant held to the eight-run lead to force the run-rule.
Gant (4-5) allowed just one hit and one run in five innings. The right-hander struck out three and walked three. Hart finished 2-for-4 with three runs and an RBI, while Brett was 3-for-4 and Schmitt 2-for-3.
Olivia Compton (4-12) gets the loss for Mary Baldwin.
Game 2: Covenant 11, Mary Baldwin 6
Covenant trailed 6-5 entering the seventh but scored six runs, capped by a Brett three-run homer, to rally and take an 11-6 victory and complete the doubleheader sweep.
After being hit by a pitch in her first at-bat, Brett followed with a triple, double, single and home run in her next four plate appearances to accomplish the cycle. It is the first cycle in the program's eight years of existence.
Even with Brett's cycle, Covenant trailed for almost the entire game. Mary Baldwin scored two runs in the first and four more in the third, all coming via a grand slam from Morgan Tully, as the host Fighting Squirrels took a 6-1 lead.
Covenant cut it to 6-2 with a run in the fifth on a Madison Quirk RBI single. In the sixth, Hart's three-run home run to right-center field cut the deficit to 6-5.
In the seventh, the comeback was completed. Jacey Massetto singled home Johnson to tie the score and Hart followed with a two-run single that plated Shade Epes and Kendall Whann. Brett finished off her cycle with a three-run blast to left field that gave Covenant an 11-6 lead.
Johnson shut down Mary Baldwin in the home half of the seventh to secure the win. Johnson (4-5) went the final four innings and did not allow a run while giving up four hits and striking out two.
Hart had a career-high five RBIs and went 2-for-5 with two runs scored. Brett went 4-for-4 with three runs and three RBIs. Schmitt, Quirk, Johnson, English and Epes all contributed two hits apiece as Covenant totaled 17 on the day.
Katie Dickinson (3-7) picks up the loss for Mary Baldwin. Tully finished 2-for-3 with five RBIs and a home run.
Covenant (11-21, 4-18 USA South) has completed its USA South schedule and will travel to Sewanee for a doubleheader on Tuesday starting at 2 p.m. EDT.