GAME ONE BOX       GAME TWO BOX

Wingate, N.C.---The Wingate University Bulldogs took a 5-0 lead in game one of their road opener and held on for a 5-4 victory over Coker College in NCAA Division II softball action Saturday afternoon. After rallying in a wild game two to take a seventh inning lead, Wingate could not hang on and fell 13-11 to split the doubleheader . Wingate has now split both doubleheaders this year and is 2-2 on the young season. Coker is also 2-2 in 2012.

Game One: Wingate 5, Coker 4

Wingate would take the lead right out the gates in the top of the first inning. Freshman shortstop Alexis Burrell (Chesapeake, Va.) started the game with her second triple of the season. Two batters later classmate Betsy Braswell (Rocky Mount, N.C.) would drive in Burrell with an RBI single to give Wingate the early lead. Junior first basemen Brittany Loudermilt (Stony Point, N.C.) also drove in a run in the first to give Wingate a 2-0 lead.

Braswell would extend the lead to 3-0 in the third after blasting her first career homer at Wingate off of Coker senior pitcher Becky Dillon (West Palm Beach, Fla.). Wingate added two more runs in the fifth thanks to a Coker error and an RBI single from sophomore Hayley Whitley (Monroe, N.C.).

Freshman pitcher Miranda Paul (Virginia Beach, Va.) would keep the Cobras scoreless through the first five innings. Paul ran into trouble in the sixth as Coker scored four runs on four hits. The big blow in the inning came on a three-run home run by sophomore Sydney Weatherford (Scranton, N.C.) to make it 5-4. Sophomore pitcher Ashley Brown (Murrells Inlet, S.C.) came on to pitch for Wingate in the bottom of the seventh. With two outs and runners on second and third, Brown registered a strikeout to end the game and pick up her first save of the season.

Braswell finished two-for-four with two RBI and two runs scored. Junior outfielder Kelsey Maffucci (Rockledge, Fla.) also registered two hits. Paul earned her first win of her Bulldog career to move to 1-1 on the season. The Virginia native allowed four earned runs and six hits, while striking out five. Dillon took the loss, falling to 0-2.

Game Two: Coker 13, Wingate 11

Coker took a 2-0 lead after one inning but the Bulldogs responded in the third with four runs to take their first lead of game two. Braswell drove home Maffucci with a sacrifice fly to start the scoring in the fourth.  Two batters later with two on and two out, Loudermilt hit her first home run of 2012 to give the Bulldogs a 4-2 lead heading to the fourth.

Coker would score one in the fourth off Brown to cut the Wingate lead to one. In the fifth, an error would prove costly as the Cobras took the lead back thanks to a grand slam by Weatherford. Coker added another insurance run in the sixth to make it 8-4 heading to the top of the seventh.

Down to their last three outs, Wingate mounted a furious rally in the seventh. With the bases loaded and one out, Braswell started the spurt with a two-run double to cut the Coker lead in half. Wingate would tie the game at eight on back-to-back wild pitches by Coker pitcher Katie Lee (Debray, Fla.). After a pitching change, the Bulldogs would take the lead on a RBI walk from senior outfielder Joya Wortham (Creedmoor, N.C.). Maffucci finished the scoring by driving in two on a double to left field to give the visitors an 11-8 lead.

Unfortunately for the Bulldogs, the lead would not last. The Cobras responded with a rally of their own to take game two. Three straight singles for Coker against Paul loaded the bases with no outs. After Paul induced a fielder’s choice groundout, the Cobras would tie the game on a bases clearing triple from Jennifer Sanborn (Beaufort, S.C.). Two batters later, sophomore Kentesha Jenkins (Darlington, S.C.) ended the game with a walk-off two-run home run to give the Cobras a 13-11 win.

Burrell , Whitley, and Maffucci led Wingate with two hits each. Burrell and senior catcher Brittany Barrineau (Monroe, N.C.) scored two runs each. Paul took the tough loss in relief, giving up all five runs in the seventh to fall to 1-1. Junior Jordan Anderson (Bishopville, S.C.) earned the win in relief to improve to 1-1.

The Bulldogs will have a quick turnaround as they face Mount Olive College, their third straight Conference Carolinas opponent on Sunday afternoon. First pitch is 1 p.m.