Gaston College softball posts DH sweep at Patrick & Henry Community College

Gaston College's softball team extended its winning streak to five and has won 14 of its last 15 games after Tuesday's doubleheader sweep at Patrick & Henry Community College.

The Rhinos, who have received votes in the National Junior College Athletic Association Division I poll in seven of the last eight weeks, improved to 40-6 on the season to give the program its first 40-win regular season.

Gaston College won 8-1 in the opener, then 11-2 in six innings in the nightcap against the No. 2-ranked team in the NJCAA Division III poll.

Patrick & Henry also was coming off a split the day before against Louisburg, the No. 2 ranked team in the NJCAA poll.

The Rhinos, who split a doubleheader at Louisburg last Friday, erupted for 11 hits and runs in six of seven innings against Patriots' ace right-hander Morgan Strickland, who had struck out 12 in Monday's 2-1 home victory over Louisburg.

"We talked about how we want to be playing our best ball this time of the year," Gaston College coach Mike Steuerwald said. "And in Game 1 we did that, especially off their top pitcher."

Grace Kealy's 14th home run of the season gave the Rhinos the lead for good in the opener as pitcher Abigail Gawlinski followed up Sunday's perfect game performance with a three-hitter with three strikeouts in a game in which she didn't yield a run until the bottom of the sixth to make it 7-1.

Kealy (2 hits, double, home run, 1 RBI), Kendall Bradshaw (3 hits, 2 doubles, 2 RBIs) and Gracie Brown (2 hits) led the offense as Kealy homered in the fourth straight game.

Gaston College then scored nine times in the top of the first inning of the second game and closed out the contest by the mercy rule with two more runs in the top of the sixth inning.

Alayna Patrick (2 hits, double, home run, 2 RBIs), Emma Ghorley (2 hits), Skye Harrington (2 hits, double, 1 RBI), Grace Manning (2 hits, 2 RBIs) and Layla Manning (2 hits) led a 15-hit offense in support of winning pitcher Abigail Brewton.

Brewton tossed a five-hitter with nine strikeouts.

"I'm proud that we got to 40 wins today," Steuerwald said. "That's a good first for our program."

The Rhinos' (11-1) continue on their challenging schedule as they next travel to second-place league rival Florence-Darlington Tech (25-10, 9-3) for a 1 p.m. Friday doubleheader. Gaston College then visits Surry Community College on April 22 for a 3 p.m. doubleheader and Caldwell Tech on April 24 for a 3 p.m. doubleheader; Surry is No. 5 in the NJCAA Division III poll and Caldwell is No. 3 in the NJCAA Division III poll.