Mount Olive, N.C.----The Wingate University softball team benefitted from timely pitching and hitting in an NCAA Division II sweep over Mount Olive College Sunday afternoon at Nancy Chapman Cassell Field on the Mount Olive College. The visiting Bulldogs won the first game 3-1 and the second game 13-4 in five innings. Both teams are 4-2 overall.
 
Wingate freshman pitcher Miranda Paul (Virginia Beach, Va.) pitched her first collegiate complete game in the opener. Bulldog freshman shortstop Alexis Burrell (Chesapeake, Va.) broke a 4-4 tie with a grand slam in the nightcap. Wingate matched its season-high with 12 hits in the second game.
 
Game #1 – Wingate 3, Mount Olive 1
 
Wingate took advantage of five Mount Olive errors, scoring three unearned runs on one hit in the opener. Bulldog junior first baseman Brittany Loudermilt (Stony Point, N.C.) posted an RBI single in Wingate’s two-run third inning.
 
Sophomore outfielder Courtney Barrineau (Monroe, N.C.) started the third frame by reaching on an error. One out later, freshman third baseman Brittany Owens (Greenville, N.C.) and freshman designated player Betsy Braswell (Rocky Mount, N.C.) to load the bases. Loudermilt’s single scored Barrineau. Owens scored later in the inning on a wild pitch.
 
The Bulldogs added an insurance run in the sixth inning to pad their lead to 3-0. With one out, sophomore second baseman Hayley Whitley (Monroe, N.C.) reached on an error. Senior catcher Brittany Barrineau (Monroe, N.C.) walked to move Whitley to second. Whitley scored Wingate’s third run when junior outfielder Kelsey Maffucci (Rockledge, Fla.) reached on an error.
 
Paul earned the complete-game victory to improve to 2-0 on the young season. In seven innings, Paul allowed one earned run on three hits (two singles, one double). She walked one and struck out two.
 
Mount Olive’s seventh-inning rally started when Kayla Voorhees drew a two-out pinch-hit walk and pinch-hitter Tiffany Hawley was hit by a pitch. Voorhees scored on an opposite-field double to left by Elizabeth Overman. The two-bagger put the tying run in scoring position and the winning run at the plate. Paul induced a fly out to center for her first complete game of the season.
 
Game #2 – Wingate 13, Mount Olive 4 (five innings)
 
Wingate completed the sweep with a 13-4 run-rule victory in game two. The Bulldogs broke the 4-4 tie with Burrell’s third-inning grand slam home run. Brittany Barrineau, Braswell, Loudermilt, Maffucci and Whitley had two hits each for the visiting Bulldogs.
 
After Wingate tied the game on an error and a wild pitch in the top of the third, Burrell drove a 3-2 pitch over the left-center field fence to put the Bulldogs ahead to stay 8-4. Brittany Barrineau’s two-run double highlighted a five-run fourth inning.
 
Wingate sophomore reliever Ashley Brown (Murrells Inlet, S.C.) retired nine of the final 11 Trojan batters for the win. Brown and Paul allowed only one earned run on six hits in the nightcap.
 
Wingate visits Francis Marion Wednesday for a 1 p.m. doubleheader. The Bulldogs are playing 17 consecutive games away from the WU Softball Complex. The MOC games were contests three and four of this road swing. Mount Olive entertains West Virginia State Saturday at 12 noon.