No. 15 Gaston College completes impressive week with another DH sweep

The No. 15-ranked Gaston College softball team continued its hot start to the season with a doubleheader sweep of Gordon State, Ga., by 6-1 and 6-2 scores on Saturday during First Responders and Military Appreciation Day at Gastonia's CaroMont Health Park.

"Obviously a really good week," said Rhinos head coach Mike Steuerwald, whose team earlier this week was given the highest national ranking in program history. 'When you have Walters State (Tuesday) and Gordon State at home and can go 4-0 against those two, it's really solid week."

The recipe for success was familiar as Gaston College collected 17 total hits in the sweep and got strong pitching.

Sarah Johnson (4 hits, 2 home runs, 2 RBIs), Grace Kealy (3 hits, 2 doubles, home run, 6 RBIs), Kendall Bradshaw (3 hits, triple), Skye Harrington (3 hits, double) and Alayna Patrick (2 hits, 1 RBI) led the offense.

And Kristyn Ezzo fired a three-hitter with eight strikeouts in the opener and Phoebe Cole picked up the win in the nightcap with 3 1/3 innings of relief and Ezzo got the last three outs.

"I also thought our catchers probably played at their highest level today - Skye Harrington in the first game and Arissa Duff in the second game," Steuerwald said.

The Rhinos remain at home next week at Gastonia's CaroMont Health Park with a 3 p.m. Tuesday doubleheader against Surry Community College and a 1 p.m. doubleheader next Saturday against Florence Darlington Tech in the Region 10 Division I conference openers.

"FloDar has already begun their conference play so they have a head start on us," Steuerwald said of the Stingers, who beat Gaston College in the 2024 Region 10 tournament championship game. "But, you know, they're the team that knocked us out last year. So it'll certainly be a big weekend for us."