Eagles Rebound with Sweep of Berea

Asbury would later have to forfeit both games after the use of ineligible players.

WILMORE, Ky. – Asbury softball jumped back into the win column with a two-game sweep of KIAC rival Berea on Tuesday.  The Eagles 6-4 and 8-3 victories give them eight wins in their last 10 games and six straight wins in conference play.

Asbury (13-17, 10-2 KIAC) stormed out to a 5-1 lead in game one before the Lady Mountaineers rallied to make it tight.  The Eagles scored twice in the first inning as Mary Ann Warford scampered home on a wild pitch and Julie Jarboe scored on a single by Miranda Drury.  Warford finished the game with two hits, including a double, two runs scored and a stolen base.  For the day the senior scored five times, collected six hits, stole four bases, had two doubles, and reached base on seven of her eight plate appearances.

The Eagles added three more in the second as Maris Harreld delivered a two-out double, scoring two.  Miranda Drury also had an RBI ground out in the inning.  Berea cut the deficit to 5-4 going into the bottom of the sixth but freshman Hailey Vernon blasted a solo home run to right, the first of her career to push the lead back to two.

Harreld came in to pitch the seventh and allowed only an infield single to pick up her first save of the season.  Kelsey Robinson (6-8) started the game and threw six innings allowing seven hits and four runs in the win.  The Eagles collected 10 hits in the game as Emily Ethington joined Warford with a multi-hit game.

In game two Harreld struck out nine and allowed only one earned run despite giving up seven hits.  The junior improves to 5-5 on the season. 

The Eagles scored in five of the six innings and also had a hit in five of the six innings.  Seven Eagles collected a hit in the game and Ethington again had a mulit-hit game as Warford had the first four-hit game of the season by an Eagle.

Asbury scored once in each of the first four innings before hanging a four spot on Berea in the fifth.  Jarboe and Harreld each had a run-scoring single in the inning and Drury knocked in one with a double.  Drury knocked in three in the game and five for the day. 

Berea briefly held a 2-1 lead after the first inning, scoring both runs after a two-out throwing error allowed the inning to continue. 

Asbury will host Cumberlands (Ky.) on Wednesday at 4 p.m. for a doubleheader before travelling to Indiana for a weekend trip to Saint Francis and Indiana Wesleyan.