Shreveport – The Centenary softball team started off Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference play in the right way as the Ladies swept a doubleheader over the University of Dallas Crusaders on Saturday afternoon, winning game by 7-0 and game two 4-1 at the Centenary Softball Complex.
The Ladies (7-10, 2-0 SCAC) have now won three games in a row and improved to 5-6 at home this season. The Crusaders dropped to 3-12 and 0-2 in league play and were playing on the road for the first time this season.
Centenary continued its dominance in the series as the Maroon and White improved to 35-12 all-time against the Crusaders and have won five in a row and 13 of 14. The Ladies recorded a series sweep over the Crusaders last season in Irving, Texas.
Game one recap: Centenary 7 Dallas 0
Junior P Anna Scarbrock (Alexandria, La.) was masterful in the circle as she tossed a complete-game shutout and needed only 50 pitches to do so. She allowed just two hits with no walks and one strikeout. She faced 24 batters, hitting one, and threw 40 of her 50 pitches for strikes. Scarbrock has not allowed an earned run in her last 10 innings while allowing only four hits and no walks with two K's. She now owns a pair of seven-inning complete-game shutouts and both have been against Dallas as she tossed one last season on April 7, a 4-0 Centenary win. Scarbrock has thrown 19 complete games in her career which ranks third in the division III era (2012-present) in program history.
The Ladies recorded their first shutout of the season behind Scarbrock and their offense pounded Dallas' two pitchers – starter SunnyDale Thies and reliever Ava Aleman for 13 hits and led 4-0 after their first two at-bats. Thies (1-5) lasted just 1.2 innings and allowed four runs, all earned, on six hits with a walk and no K's. She faced 12 batters and threw 25 pitches – 14 for strikes. Aleman worked the final 4.1 innings and yielded three earned runs and seven hits with a walk and a pair of K's. She faced 21 batters while throwing 62 pitches (38 strikes).
Sophomore C Jaeden Thrasher (Forney, Texas) led the Ladies with three hits as she finished 3-4 with two runs scored. Senior RF Mackenzie Cox (Alexandria, La.) was 1-3 with an RBI, two runs scored, a walk, and two stolen bases, sophomore SS Catherine Stokes (Natchitoches, La.) was 2-4 with an RBI, and sophomore 3B Morgan Dawson (Natchitoches, La.) finished 1-3 with an RBI, a run scored, and a stolen base. Sophomore 2B Emma Crow (Krotz Springs, La.) went 2-4 with an RBI and stole a base, senior CF Mallory Stout (Trinity, Texas) was 1-2 with an RBI and a walk, sophomore DP Abigail Hodgson (Georgetown, Texas) went 2-3 and scored a run, and senior 1B Isabelle Dominguez (Newark, Calif.) was 1-4 with an RBI.
Dallas CF Abby Lasley led off the game with an infield single against Scarbrock but she was thrown out attempting to steal as RF Jennifer Schmalz struck out for a double play and 2B Katie Duffy-Relf followed with a single but 1B MacKenzie Flocke grounded out to end the inning and Scarbrock retired the next 10 batters in a row until Gianna Alvarez reached on an error by Dawson with one out in the fifth. She went to second on a passed ball but was stranded at third base and the Crusaders went quietly in the sixth and seventh as Alvarez grounded out to short to end the game.
Cox walked and stole second base in the bottom of the first and Dawson ripped a two-out double to score Cox for a 1-0 lead. Crow then reached on an infield single and moved Dawson to third and then the Ladies executed a double steal as Dawson slid home for a 2-0 lead. Dominguez then lined out to end the inning. Hodgson singled to lead off the second and Cox brought her home with a two-out triple. Stokes then followed with a single to right to score Cox and make it 4-0.
Centenary added two more runs in the fifth as Dominguez' one-out single scored Thrasher and Stout singled to score the Ladies' pinch-runner - sophomore Brooke Sandefur (Denham Springs, La.) and make it 6-0. Crow's two-out RBI single up the middle in the sixth scored Thrasher with the Ladies' final run.
The Ladies finished with 13 hits, two walks, struck out twice, made one error, left eight on base, and stole five bases. The Crusaders mustered just the two singles, did not draw a walk, struck out once, left three on base, did not steal a base, and committed two errors. Centenary stole a season-high five bases in a game for the third time this season.
Game two recap: Centenary 4 Dallas 1
Sophomore P Riley Myers (Shreveport, La.) picked up the win in the circle to improve to 2-1 as she went 5.1 innings and allowed just one unearned run and four hits with two walks and two strikeouts. She faced 24 batters, hit two, and threw 88 pitches – 51 for strikes. Junior Emma Shepherd (Athens, La.) relieved her and worked the final 1.2 innings and allowed no runs and no hits with no walks and recorded four K's. She faced five batters and threw 21 pitches with 16 for strikes.
Ava Trevino (1-5) went the distance for the Crusaders and suffered the loss as she allowed four runs, three earned and 10 hits, in six innings with two walks and one strikeout. She faced 32 batters and threw 75 pitches – 48 for strikes.
The Crusaders finished with just four hits and made two errors. They drew a pair of walks, struck out six times, and left seven on base. The Ladies had 10 hits, walked twice, only struck out once, left 10 on base, and stole two bases. Centenary has now stolen two or more bases in a game 12 times this season and done so in six-straight games. The Ladies have also had 10+ hits in game nine times and done so in eight of their last 11 games.
Hodgson got the scoring started in game two as she singled home Thrasher who had reached on an error for a 1-0 lead after an inning. The Crusaders tied the game in the top of the third as Duffy-Relf doubled down the left-field line with two outs to score DP Isabella Halsey. The Ladies, though, regained the lead in the bottom half as Crow's one-out double scored Stokes to make it a 2-1 game.
Centenary added single runs in the fourth and sixth as Stokes had an RBI groundout and Hodgson's two-out single in the sixth scored Cox for a 4-1 lead. Shepherd retired the Crusaders in order in the seventh including a strikeout of Schmalz to end the game. She came on in the sixth for Myers with two runners on and struck out the only two batters she faced in the frame to end the threat and pick up her first save of the season.
Cox finished 2-4 with a run and a stolen base, Stokes went 1-4 with an RBI and a run scored, Hodgson was 2-4 with two RBI and a walk, Crow was 1-4 with an RBI, and Stout went 1-3 with a stolen base. Dominguez finished 1-3, sophomore 3B River Boultinghouse (Saint Gabriel, La.) went 1-2, and freshman LF Taylor Good (Flower Mound, Texas) was 1-2 with a walk and a run scored. Duffy-Relf had two of Dallas' four hits as 3B Amarisa Garza and C Lizette Sosa each had one.
The third and final game of the series is tentatively scheduled for Noon on Sunday weather permitting.
See the complete Ladies' season schedule here: https://centenary.prestosports.com/sports/sball/2023-24/schedule
Admission is FREE to all Centenary home athletic contests. Live stats and live video stream are available for all Centenary home contests.
#GoCentenary #CTheOpportunity
