Gaston College sweeps defending Region 10 champion in home doubleheader

Gaston College coach Mike Steuerwald saw his team play two kinds of games on Saturday at Gastonia's CaroMont Health Park.

Fortunately for Steuerwald and the Rhinos, they were successful at both as Gaston College won a low-scoring game 1-0 in the opener, then rallied from as much as a 6-run deficit to take a 20-14 victory in the nightcap over defending Region 10 champion Spartanburg Methodist.

"For us, it's whatever it takes to get the job done," Steuerwald said. "(Brantleigh Parrott) threw lights out in Game 1 and we were able to scratch one across the board. From there, we came out in Game 2 and got punched a little bit. What I liked is that our offense kept picking us up. We didn't make some plays defensively and didn't pitch super great in the early going, but our offense kept chipping away. As long as you end up on the right side of the scoreboard you'll take it."

Parrott starred on the mound and at the plate in each victory.

In the opener, she pitched a 4-hitter with 19 strikeouts and scored the game's only run after reaching base on a leadoff error in the sixth inning and scoring on Logan Lilly's RBI groundout.

In the nightcap, she was one of eight players with multiple hits, then came on in relief to retire all nine batters (seven on strikeouts) to pick up another victory.

The doubleheader sweep improved the Rhinos to 25-7 overall and atop Region 10 with a 5-1 record.

"We talked about how going into region play, it can go a lot of different ways," Steuerwald said. "Some games you're going to pitch it well and some days you're going to swing it well. Today we had a combination of the two."

After Parrott's opening game gem, the visiting Pioneers (12-16, 1-3) scored five runs in the first innings, twice in the second, five in the third and twice in the fourth. It gave Spartanburg Methodist leads of 5-0, 7-1, 12-7 and 14-11.

But the Rhinos responded each time - and even after leaving six runners in scoring position in their first four innings.

"One of the things I like about this team is that we stay fairly even keel," Steuerwald said. "We don't let highs get us too high or the lows get us too low. When we were down 5-0, we were like, Well, let's see what we can do here. Then when we tied it 7 and they put a 5-spot on us, we were confident we could keep scoring."

The winning rally came after Gaston College knotted the score at 14 with a 6-run sixth inning highlighted by Parrott's 2-run double and Haylee Salter's 2-run single.

Gabrielle Porterfield (5 hits, 5 RBIs, double), Asheton Queen (3 hits, 1 RBI, double), Parrott (3 hits, 4 RBIs, double), Serena Yalich (3 hits, 3 RBIs, double), Salter (3 hits, 2 RBIs, double, triple), Gracie Brown (3 hits, 2 RBIs, double), Logan Lilly (2 hits, 2 RBIs), Tessa Hunt (2 hits) and Grace Manning (RBI double) led the season-high 25-hit offensive output.

Gaston College returns to action on Wednesday with a 3 p.m. doubleheader at Catawba Valley Community College before returning to Region 10 Division I league play with next Friday's 3 p.m. home doubleheader against USC Union.