Carly White tossed a complete game five-hitter and third baseman Kalie Smith's defensive play ended a seventh inning rally as Mount Olive defeated Indiana (Pa.) 2-1 in the opening game of the Shaw University Softball Challenge Friday at Raleigh, N.C. The Trojans scored two runs in the first inning and White and the defense made the runs stand.
Mount Olive (7-3) took the second game 9-1 over Seton Hill as Jesse Crist's grand slam home run capped a five-run third inning. Rebekah McDaniel led off the bottom of the sixth with a home run to give the Trojans the run-rule victory.
The remainder of the scheduled three-day tournament had to be canceled due to rain and snow that hit Raleigh Saturday.
In Friday's opener, White (3-1) held Indiana scoreless until giving up a run with two outs in the bottom of the sixth. Indiana put runners on first and second on Amanda Segrist's leadoff single and Angela Devereaux's one-out pinch-hit single.
White kept the runners in place on a long fly out to left-center field. IUP batter Meaghan Carney hit a sharp bouncer to the hole on the left side. Smith made a diving stop and threw to second from her knees to get the force for the final, beating the runner by a half step.
Mount Olive took advantage of early Indiana miscues as Kelsey Akers drew a four-pitch walk to lead off the game and Beth Overman followed with a single to right. After a wild pitch advanced the runners, Akers scored and Overman went to third when Katie Moore's ground ball was misplayed.
Overman came home when Moore deliberately got herself caught in a rundown.
The Trojans put two runners on base in each of the next three innings, but were unable to add to their lead. Jennifer Jones was robbed of a leadoff extra-base hit in the top of the fifth when Indiana centerfielder Jasa Mitchell ran down Jones' line drive towards the left-centerfield fence and made a backhanded catch, most of the ball showing out of the glove.
Indiana (0-1) ruined White's shutout bid when Carney led off the bottom of the sixth with a walk and eventually scored from third on Jen Beaver's bloop single down the left field line. White ended the threat with a groundout to short.
White finished with three strikeouts, all looking.
Against Seton Hill, Mount Olive took a 1-0 lead into the bottom of third. The Trojans scored a run on Savannah Becker's rbi-single and then loaded the bases. After a Seton Hill pitching change, Crist drove the first pitch opposite field over the right-center field fence to extend Mount Olive's lead to 6-0.
Crist's grand slam was her career first and the second by a Trojan in the last three games. Overman hit a grand slam against Catawba last Sunday.
Trojan pitcher Christie Wright (2-0) took a shutout into the top of the fifth before Stephanie Wiegand doubled and scored on Beth Swartzwelder's rbi-single to put Seton Hill (1-1) on the scoreboard.
Mount Olive added two runs in the bottom of the fifth on rbi-singles by Moore and Jones, and McDaniel fought back from an 0-2 count in the bottom of the sixth for her first home run of the season.