Back-to-back no-hit shutout wins for Marlins
March 18, 2008
EMORY, Va. -- Virginia Wesleyan College softball coach Brandon Elliott was one happy man after sophomore pitcher Brittaney Brown fired the ball past Emory & Henry College's Wasps for a no-hit, 6-0 Old Dominion Athletic Conference victory on the road.
But, happy only turned to ecstatic about 90 minutes later when the Marlins' rookie pitcher Ally Eates did the same thing, firing a no-hitter in a 13-0 win that gave Virginia Wesleyan (11-3, 4-0) its first sweep of Emory & Henry (4-8, 0-2) since 2000 and its first shutout sweep of the Wasps since 1996.
"One no-hitter is outstanding," said Elliott, "but back-to-back no-hitters is unreal. Just to get one is tough, so to get two is incredible. Coach Straube (Ricky) called all the pitches today for us, so he deserves credit too. But, Brittaney and Ally were both on today. They both got ahead of hitters and just bore down. Brittaney was firing the ball right by people and Ally kept the ball down, hit her spots, and was aggressive start-to-finish. The rest of our team backed them with solid hitting in both games."
Brown (Chesapeake, Va./Hickory) struck out 10 batters in the first game, her third double-digit strike out tally of the season. She now has 71 strikeouts for the season. Brown allowed the Wasps only two walks in seven innings pitched and faced only 24 batters overall. After striking out the last batter of the fifth inning, Brown retired the next six Wasps in order to wrap up the win to improve to 7-2.
Eates (Portsmouth, Va./Alliance Christian) was one batter away from a rare perfect game as she faced only 16 batters in five innings. Backed by an alert VWC defense, Eates put away the first nine consecutive batters she faced before Ashley Fitzgibbons drew a walk to lead off the fourth inning. Eates recovered quickly however, and put down the next six batters in a row to take the victory and improve to 4-1 in the circle.
Virginia Wesleyan led 3-0 after the first inning of the second game, which included two-run home run by sophomore Betty Stewart (Marshall, Va./Fauquier) and a run-scoring double from senior Bree Strain (Plymouth Meeting, Pa./Plymouth-Whitemarsh). The Marlins pulled away in the top of the second inning with six more runs, helped in by a three-run triple into right center field from senior Mandy Nixon (Virginia Beach, Va./Kempsville). Nixon finished with two hits and four RBI. Senior Allison Cockrell (Ophelia, Va./Northumberland), junior Jess Sacra (Chester, Va./Thomas Dale), and Strain all connected for two hits each in the contest.
Building a lead was a little slower for Virginia Wesleyan in the opener as the Marlins led only 1-0 after two innings. They increased that to a 3-0 advantage after five, and put the game away with a three-run seventh, the latter highlighted by a solo homer to center field from Nixon and a two-run homer to left center by rookie Maree Opland (Mechanicsville, Va./Lee-Davis). Strain put the Marlins on the scoreboard in the top of the second with a home run to right center field.
Virginia Wesleyan will attempt to extend a four-game winning streak when it hosts Sweet Briar College's Vixens in an ODAC doubleheader on Friday, Mar. 21, beginning at 2 p.m.
--VWC--