No. 23 Gaston College gets DH sweep highlighted by Ezzo's no-hitter in the opener

No. 23 Gaston College's softball team recorded an impressive doubleheader sweep of Pellissippi State, Tenn., on Thursday highlighted by the fifth no-hitter in school history.

Sophomore Kristyn Ezzo threw the fifth no-hitter in team history with a 12-strikeout, 2-walk, 79-pitch effort in a 14-0 victory shortened to five innings by the mercy rule in the opener.

The 10-0 Rhinos completed the sweep with the 14-2 win in the nightcap.

"It was good to see her today get rolling," Gaston College coach Mike Steuerwald said of Ezzo. "She was locked in and getting strikeouts. When she's spinning it really well, that's what can happen."

Ezzo joins three other pitchers with no-hitters in program history - current teammate Abigail Brewton (two last year), Brantleigh Parrott (in 2023) and Abigail Gawlinski (one last year).

She yielded a leadoff first inning walk that was later erased trying to steal second base and a fourth inning leadoff walk that was stranded on first base.

In the nightcap, starter and winner Savanna Mullins went three innings and relievers Courtney Grimmer and Mary Hinson one inning apiece as the Rhinos again won in five innings by the mercy rule.

Eleven different Gaston College players collected at least one hit in the sweep led by Grace Kealy (3 hits, double, home run, 4 RBIs), Katelyn Brandon (3 hits, double, 2 RBIs), Kendall Bradshaw (3 hits, 2 RBIs), Skye Harrington (2 hits, double, 4 RBIs), Alayna Patrick (2 hits, double, 2 RBIs) and Phoebe Cole (2 hits, 3 RBIs).

"Offensively, our hitters did a good job of adjusting and getting on top of them quickly," said Steuerwald, whose team had three innings of three or more runs. "It was good to be able to get a lot of players in the game and get a lot of players some at-bats, especially with two more tomorrow and two more on Sunday."

The Rhinos host Monroe University of the Bronx, N.Y. in a 3 p.m. doubleheader on Friday and No. 5-ranked Louisburg in a 1 p.m. doubleheader on Sunday. Each game will be played at Gastonia's CaroMont Health Park.