Shreveport - The Centenary softball team defeated the University of Dallas Crusaders by a score of 5-1 in Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference play on Tuesday evening in a makeup game at the Centenary Softball Complex.
The Ladies (9-14, 4-2 SCAC) recorded a series sweep over the Crusaders (3-16, 0-6 SCAC) after sweeping a doubleheader back on March 16 in the first two games of the series. The Ladies, now 6-6 at home this season, won those games by scores of 7-0 and 4-1 and game three was postponed due to weather. Centenary is now 36-12 all-time against Dallas and has won six in a row and 14 of 15.
Centenary finished with 10 hits, a walk, no strikeouts, left eight on base, and made two errors. Dallas had five hits, a walk, four strikeouts, left five on base, and made one error. The Ladies recorded 10+ hits in a game for the 11th time this season, did so in all three games of the series with a total of 33 hits.
Junior P Anna Scarbrock (Alexandria, La.) tossed a complete game to improve to 5-5 as she limited the Crusaders to just one unearned run and five hits with one walk and four strikeouts. Scarbrock, who threw her team-high third CG, faced 27 batters and threw 87 pitches, 58 for strikes.
SunnyDale Thies started for Dallas and took the loss to fall to 3-8 as she allowed five earned runs and eight hits in four innings with no walks and no strikeouts. She faced 22 batters, hitting one, and threw 62 pitches – 42 strikes. Ava Trevino relieved Thies and allowed no runs on two hits in two innings with a walk. She faced nine batters and threw 30 pitches (19 strikes).
Junior Emma Shepherd (Athens, La.) got the Ladies on the board in the bottom of the first with a two-out RBI single to score sophomore SS Catherine Stokes (Natchitoches, La.). Dallas tied the game in the top of the second as RF Jennifer Schmalz reached on an error by sophomore 2B Emma Crow (Krotz Springs, La.).
The Ladies regained the lead in the third as senior RF Mackenzie Cox (Alexandria, La.) roped a leadoff triple to center and after Stokes popped up, senior 1B Isabelle Dominguez (Newark, Calif.) singled to right to score Cox and put the Ladies up 2-1. Centenary then scored three in the fourth to extend its lead to 5-1. Senior CF Mallory Stout (Trinity, Texas) and freshman LF Taylor Good (Flower Mound, Texas) both singled to open the inning and Crow delivered an RBI single to center to score Stout and make it 3-1. Sophomore 3B River Boultinghouse (Saint Gabriel, La.) sacrificed the runners to second and third and Cox singled to left center to score Crow and Good.
Scarbrock, who struck out four batters in the first three innings, retired the Crusaders in order in the top of the fifth after her offense staked her to a 5-1 lead. She allowed a single and a walk in the sixth but kept Dallas off the scoreboard, and a leadoff single in the seventh to Amarisa Garza was wiped away on a sensational double play as Stokes caught a hard line drive off the bat of Lizette Sosa and threw to first to double off Garza. The next two batters singled, but Scarbrock got Isabella Halsey to ground back to her as she flipped the ball over to Dominguez for the final out.
Despite making two errors of which one allowed the Crusaders' lone run of the game to score, the Ladies made a handful of fantastic defensive plays which included Stokes' nifty double play. Cox made a nice running catch in the fifth, and Stout threw out pinch-hitter Mariah Hinojosa trying to stretch a single into a double in the sixth as she cut he ball off in the gap and fired it to Stokes who applied the tag on a sliding Hinojosa.
Cox finished 2-4 with two RBI and a run scored, Stokes was 1-4 with a run, Dominguez went 2-3 with an RBI, Stout was 1-3 with a run, Good went 2-3 with a run, and Crow was 1-2 with an RBI, a run scored, and a walk. Cox also stole one base, her 31st, as she continues to lead the country in division III in the category.
The Ladies remain at home this weekend for a three-game series against the Schreiner University Mountaineers. Game one of the series is set for Friday at 4 p.m. followed by a DH on Saturday at Noon and 2 p.m. Schreiner (2-20, 1-5 SCAC) is 1-12 on the road this season and lost two of three games to Southwestern last weekend.
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.
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