Box Score (Game 1) Box Score (Game 2)
FERRUM, Va. — Ferrum College held off Averett twice to take both games of a conference doubleheader with the Cougars on Tuesday. The Panthers defeated Averett 3-2 in the opener before knocking off the Cougars 13-9 in Game 2.
Averett (6-19, 4-10 USA South) fell behind 2-0 early in Game 1 thanks to Meagan Farrell's two-run homer, but the Cougars got one of those runs back quickly the next inning. Freshman
Jenna Rudder led off the third inning with a double and later scored on a groundout. However, Ferrum pushed its lead to 3-1 in the bottom half of the inning on Rachel Shumaker's RBI single.
The Cougars cut Ferrum's lead back down to one run thanks to a run-scoring passed ball in the top of the fourth, but couldn't get the tying run across the plate in the final three innings.
In Game 2, Averett took a 1-0 lead in the first and pushed its advantage to 2-0 in the second when sophomore
Emily Atkinson led off with a solo home run. However, Ferrum (23-11, 11-3 USA South) bounced back in the bottom of the second. The Panthers took a 4-2 lead thanks to three hits — one was a two-run homer by Whitney Womack — and a pair of Averett errors.
Things evened out, however, as Averett tied the game at 4-4 in the fourth inning with the help of two Ferrum errors. The Cougars then jumped in front 9-4 with a five-run fifth inning. Freshman
Heather Francisco and senior
Hayley Brooks each had two-run singles and senior
Kaci Bentley added an RBI single to give Averett what seemed to be a commanding lead.
The Cougars clung to a 9-8 lead after Ferrum plated three runs in the bottom of the fifth inning on four hits. Things continued to sour for Averett in the sixth inning. The Panthers scored six runs, including three on Womack's second home run of the game.
Ferrum closed out the game by sitting down the Cougars in order in the seventh.
Averett was led offensively by freshman
Brooke Hensley, who was a combined 5-for-6 with one RBI. In Game 2, freshman
Lauren Daniel was 4-for-4 and Francisco was 3-for-4 with two runs scored and two RBIs. Brooks also drove in four runs in the second game.