Pirate softball handles heavy workload well

Lady Pirate softball created an upset, let their bats sing and came up short against a cross-town rival, all in less than a week.

Freshman pitcher Megan Barnwell (5-1) and the AASU softball team stunned No. 10 Wingate with a two-hit shutout in the second game of a doubleheader. Wingate took the first game 3-0, but in the second game AASU came to play. The victory snapped a 16-game win streak for Wingate, while giving AASU its first win over a nationally ranked opponent this season.

Barnwell, who received Peach Belt Conference (PBC) Player of the Week honors, notched her fifth win, giving up only two singles in the fourth.She picked up her second straight shutout, giving up two hits, walked five and sat down four.

Wingate's losing pitcher, Allison Smith (9-1) took her first loss of the season, giving up seven hits and two runs in 3 1/3 innings.   

The AASU squad was back in action at the Boombah SCAD Smash Hit Tournament. AASU dominated the second game against Pikeville College, but came up short against cross-town rival Savannah College Art and Design (SCAD).

The first game, a rivalry game between the two major schools in Savannah, had SCAD vs. AASU. The SCAD Bees took the game in eight innings, winning 2-1.

SCAD ranks 23rd in the NIAA top-25. They gave up a bomb to Baillie Temples, giving the Lady Pirates a 1-0 lead in the first inning.

The Bee's Carleigh Shannon's leadoff double and an RBI single by Kristen Curette in the bottom of the first tied the game.

The game would stay scoreless until the Pirates' two errors in the eighth inning that led to the Bees victory.

Barnwell (5-2) took the loss for the Pirates, giving up five hits and two runs, one earned, while walking one and striking out a season-high 13. Curette (1-0) got the win for SCAD by pitching a scoreless last inning.

The Pirates resurged against Pikeville, slamming them 11-0 in five innings. AASU's Britton Hammel-Cobb tossed a two-hit shutout to take the win, while Huddleston delivered her fourth jack of the season.

The Lady Pirates swept another doubleheader against Ohio Valley, 10-2 and 9-4. AASU's softball team finished the tournament with a 3-1 record. They jacked three home runs in the game-one, 10-2 win, including a three-run shot by sophomore Heather Walker. Huddleston and Temples added a pair of solo shots, and April Jowers went 2-for-3 with a pair of runs scored and a pair of stolen bases.

Game two had just as much action as the first, with AASU scoring six runs in the bottom of the fifth to take the game 9-4 and leaving their record at 14-6.