The rain departed just long enough on Saturday for the Covenant softball team to snap its losing streak. The Lady Scots swept Wesleyan in non-conference action by scores of 11-3 and 12-1, both in five innings.
Covenant improves to 10-20 overall, while Wesleyan drops to 3-26.
The softball team helped raise awareness for Cystic Fibrosis before and during the games. Cystic Fibrosis is an inherited disease that affects about 30,000 people in the United States, with 1,000 new cases each year. The Lady Scots wore special gray and purple jerseys to commemorate the event and Ginger Birnbaum of the local Chattanooga chapter of the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation spoke before the games.
GAME ONE: Covenant 11, Wesleyan 3 (5 innings)
Covenant scored 11 runs on 16 hits and put the game away with five runs in the bottom of the fifth for an 11-3 victory in the first game.
Chandler Sheperd and Madison Quirk each went 2-for-4 with three RBIs, while Lauren Johns went 3-for-4 with a pair of runs batted in. Jordan Brett also had three hits in four at-bats and Morgan Lane added two hits and two runs.
Cori Hilt went the distance in the circle for the Lady Scots and also went 2-for-3 with an RBI and a run scored at the plate. Hilt (6-10) allowed four hits and three runs while striking out three in her pitching efforts.
Covenant scored three runs in the second inning to take a 3-0 lead, all with two outs. Shepherd singled up the middle to score Kaitlyn Sirmons and then stole second base. Lane and Brett followed with RBI doubles to make it 3-0. In the third, Hilt doubled to deep center field that plated Kendall Whann to give the Lady Scots a 4-0 lead.
After Wesleyan scored three times in the fourth, Covenant responded with two in its half of the inning on a Johns two-run double to center field. The Lady Scots secured the victory with five runs on five hits in the fifth. Shepherd and Johns each had two-RBI hits and Quirk finished the game with an RBI single to left field.
Ashley Kemp got the pitching loss for the visiting Wolves. Colleen DeGraff went 2-for-3 and Chloe Fowler went 1-for-2 with three RBIs in the loss for Wesleyan.
GAME TWO: Covenant 12, Wesleyan 1 (5 innings)
In the day's second game, Covenant scored four runs in each of the first three innings to cruise to a 12-1 win and a doubleheader sweep of Wesleyan.
Hannah Rogers was outstanding in her start as she went five innings and allowed one unearned run on four hits. Rogers (4-10) also walked one and struck out one, while throwing 64 pitches.
Brett had a big second game by going 3-for-4 with three doubles and four RBIs. Lane was a home run away from hitting for the cycle as she collected three hits and scored three runs. Johns finished 3-for-3 with two RBIs and Shepherd and Quirk each had two hits. Nicole White also drove in two runs.
Brett doubled home two runs in a four-run bottom of the first for Covenant. Johns and White also added RBIs in the frame as the Lady Scots took a 4-0 lead. It was more of the same in the second inning as Covenant tallied four more runs with a Brett RBI double and one RBI each from Whann and White to make it 8-0
Covenant's final runs of the game would come in the third. Brett produced her fourth RBI of the game with a double that scored Lane. Johns followed with an RBI single and Quirk ripped a triple down the right field line that enabled Johns to score. Quirk later scored on a wild pitch for the final tally.
Nicole Wilson gets the loss for the Wolves. Four players each recorded one hit apiece for Wesleyan.
Covenant will be back in action on Tuesday, April 1 at USA South foe, and nationally-ranked, Piedmont. First game of that doubleheader begins at 2 p.m.