HARTSVILLE, S.C. -- The fourth-seeded Anderson softball team
took on fifth seeded Mt. Olive in the first round of the Conference
Carolinas Championships on Friday morning. The Trojans, who stared
at a first round loss late in the game, rallied in the sixth inning
to steal the 7-6 win. The Trojans will take on the winner of the
No. 1 Limestone vs. No. 8 Coker game, which got underway at Noon.
The Trojans' second-round game will get started Friday at 4 p.m. in
Hartsville. Mount Olive struck first in the first inning as the
Trojans quickly went up 2-0 after a two-run home run from Kelly
Minshew put the opposing Trojans on the scoreboard. The Anderson
retaliated in the bottom half of the inning when Elisa Sebastyan
singled, and later crossed the plate thanks to an error from the
Mount Olive shortstop. Amber Duncan led off the bottom of the
second inning with a walk and one batter later, Cameron White, who
has emerged offensively during the second half of the season, drove
in Duncan to tie the game at 2-2. In the top of the third, with two
outs, an Anderson throwing error allowed the inning to continue.
The next batter, Alyssa Bradshaw, homered to deep center field to
put Mount Olive up 4-2. The top of the fifth inning saw Mount Olive
again tack on to their lead as they managed two more runs off three
hits to bring their lead to 6-2. In the bottom of the sixth the
Trojans put together a rally, which was ignited when Amber Duncan
led off the inning with a walk. Lora Daniel was up next, and on a
1-0 count she smashed a two-run home run past the left field foul
pole to cut the Mount Olive lead to 6-4. Two batters later Lyndsey
Huitt singled to right field, which was followed by an Elisa
Sebastyan single on the first pitch of the at-bat. The next batter,
Meredith Knox, faced a 3-1 pitch that she sent sailing over the
center field wall to give the Trojans their first lead of the game
7-6. Donya Cobb pitched herself into a jam in the seventh inning
and with runners on second and third, and one out, managed to put
down the last two Mount Olive batters by the way of a foul out and
a strike out to end the game. Casey Deer started the game for
Anderson and went five innings, giving up six runs off seven hits.
Donya Cobb, who grabbed the win, came in for Deer in the sixth and
gave up no runs in two innings of work. Meredith Knox came up big
for the Trojans at the plate, going three for four with three RBI.
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