One day after dominating All-Region 10 honors, No. 12 Gaston College opens postseason with 14-1 victory

No. 12 Gaston College's softball team opened the Region 10 tournament in impressive fashion with a 14-1 win over Florence Darlington Tech that was shortened to five innings by the "mercy" rule.

The victory extended the Rhinos' school record winning streak to 23 games, improved their record to 56-3 overall while advancing them into the winner's bracket final of the six-team tournament whose winner hosts the Mid-Atlantic District next week; Gaston College meets Monroe, N.Y., on Friday at 1:30 p.m. at Tyger River Park in Spartanburg, S.C.

"We did a good job of taking care of business today," Rhinos coach Mike Steuerwald said.

Kristyn Ezzo threw a five-hitter with four strikeouts and didn't yield a run until the fifth inning.

Offensively, Gaston College struck for two runs in the first inning, four in the second and eight in the third to cruise to victory.

Sarah Johnson, Grace Kealy, Alayna Patrick, Savanna Price and Mary Hinson had two hits apiece to lead an 11-hit attack with Patrick driving in four runs and Johnson, Harrington and Hinson each had two RBIs.

The tournament-opening win came one night after eight Rhinos were named All-Region 10 highlighted by player of the year selection Alayna Patrick and pitcher of the year Kristyn Ezzo. Ezzo (pitcher), Skye Harrington (catcher), Patrick and Grace Kealy (infield) and Sarah Johnson and Kendall Bradshaw (outfield) were first team selections and Mary Hinson was a second team outfield selection.

"I was just happy that we got pitcher of the year and player of the year," Steuerwald said. "I felt bad for our team because we were capped at eight nominations and we had a lot of players that were deserving to be honored."