Gaston College takes DH sweep to stay atop Region 10 standings

Gaston College's softball team won convincingly and in dramatic fashion on Wednesday to sweep visiting USC Union on a rainy, cloudy Wednesday at Gastonia's CaroMont Health Park.

The Rhinos improved to 29-5 overall and 5-1 in Region 10 Division I action as Abigail Gawlinski fired a two-hitter in a 10-1 victory in the opener and Alayna Patrick hit a walkoff two-out RBI single for a 7-6 win in the nightcap.

"Winning four games against a team is never easy and you kind of saw that today," said Gaston College coach Mike Steuerwald, whose team had swept USC Union 11-1 and 12-0 in March 11 in their first meetings of the season. "They squared up some balls and got to (Rhinos' pitcher Abigail Brewton) and had their ace going in the circle.
"But We found a way to make some plays on the defensive side to keep the game within striking distance and we had some big ABs from some people to get the win."

Dakota Marshall, Grace Kealy and Gracie Brown had two hits apiece with Kealy driving in three runs in the opener to lead an 11-hit offense while Gawlinski struck out two and the only hits she yielded were a leadoff single in the first inning and a solo home run in the fifth.

The second game was a struggle from the outset for Gaston College as the visiting Bantams took leads of 2-0 and 6-2 before the Rhinos would rally for the victory.

Defensive gems from left fielder Kendall Bradshaw, third baseman Kealy, second baseman Patrick and catcher Skye Harrington accounted for inning-ending double plays in the fifth and sixth innings.

Kealy, Gabrielle Porterfield, Grace Manning, Layla Manning and Patrick had two hits apiece for Gaston College's 12-hit offense with reliever and winner Emma Ghorley's one-out double in the seventh inninng starting the game-winning rally. Rebecca Clark came on to pinch-run for Ghorley and scored on Patrick's liner to right field.

Ghorley, from Gastonia's Highland Tech, relieved Brewton with none out in the third and went five innings with three strikeouts and one unearned run to pick up the victory.

The sweep puts the Rhinos alone atop the Region 10 standings with Saturday's 1 p.m. doubleheader at Spartanburg Methodist (3-13, 1-1) next on the schedule; Spartanburg Methodist last weekend split a road doubleheader at second-place Florence-Darlington Tech (19-8, 4-2).