Lady Braves’ Bats Explode Against Elizabeth City State
The story of the season for the Lady Braves has been key pitching and low scoring games.
They haven’t been able to consistently put together good offensive outings all season. UNCP completely flipped the script in their doubleheader against Elizabeth City State on March 3. They outscored the Vikings 42-6 in the two games combined and absolutely could not be stopped at the plate.
The first game was offensively consistent for the Black and Gold. They scored in every inning except for the fifth. Jessica Auld, Taylor Gerhart and Jamie Johnson were tied for the team lead in RBIs with three a piece.
Jamie Johnson has been the offensive backbone for UNCP when they do score in games. She’s hitting an absolutely ridiculous .462 of the season and leads the team in batting average, doubles, triples, RBIs, slugging percentage, onbase percentage and runs scored.
The Braves cruise to victory against Elizabeth City State.
Photo By Ky’Aire Goode
She was second on the team in homeruns with three. On the other side of the ball, pitching also shined through. The Vikings were only able to put together two runs as the duo of Malerie Leviner and Raygan Larson combined to pitch five innings.
It was Leviner’s fifth win on the season. The game ended via the mercy rule in the fifth with a final score of 18-2. The second game was more of a bloodbath than the first.
The Lady Braves kept pouring it on and did not let up one bit. Jessica Auld led the offensive charge with her two home run, six RBI performance. She now leads the team in long balls with five so far this season.
Kaitlynn Norton, Alex Watkins, Bailey Hoch, Carleigh Brooks and Lexie Coxe all knocked in three RBIs in what was no doubt the best offensive performance of the season. Breezy Yelton got the start in the circle for this one and had an easy road to her seventh win of the season.
She has been the best pitcher the Lady Braves has had this season with a 7-1 record and a 3.14 ERA. This game was also ended by the mercy rule in the fifth and the Black and Gold won by a score of 24-4.
