Trojans earn share of CVAC softball title

By MOC Sports Information
Published in Sports on April 15, 2007 2:14 AM

• Print
• Email

MOUNT OLIVE -- Jenny Jackson, Krystal Bourne and Shauna Cowdrey held in-state rival Queens University of Charlotte scoreless in a doubleheader sweep and Mount Olive College earned a share of the 2007 Carolinas-Virginia Athletics Conference regular-season softball championship.

Jackson, a sophomore right-hander, threw a complete-game 3-0 win in the opener. Bourne and Cowdrey no-hit the Royals 3-0 in the nightcap. The Trojans collected the program's first CVAC crown since 1997 and established a new single-season wins record (36).

Kat Cahoon batted 3-for-3 in the first game and supplied a two-run triple in the second game. It was career win No. 100 for current head coach Jaime Kylis-Higginbotham.

Mount Olive (16-4 CVAC) took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first in game one as Tiffanie Pittman drew a lead-off walk and Erin Wilson beat out a bunt single. The throw to first went up the right field line, allowing Pittman to score.

The Trojans added a run in the third after catcher Bailey Harrell hit her first collegiate triple -- an opposite-field line drive to right. Harrell scored when an illegal pitch was called.

Mount Olive capped the scoring in the sixth when Morgan Whaley scored on Cahoon's hard bouncer off Queens pitcher Megan Campbell.

Queens (15-31, 11-9) had its best scoring chance in the top of the second. Ricci Coultas was hit by a pitch and Kari Kmetic reached on a bunt single. Campbell's sacrifice advanced the runners to second and third, but Harrell picked Coultas off third on a failed squeeze play.

Jackson (16-5) got the final out on a strikeout. The Western Carolina transfer struck out five and walked one on her way to her sixth shutout of the season.

Campbell recorded four strikeouts for Queens and scattered nine hits.

In the nightcap, an error once again led to a Trojan run in the bottom of the first. Pittman hit a lead-off single up the middle, stole second and advanced to third on Wilson's sacrifice. The Royals tried to get Pittman out at third, but the throw went over the third baseman's head and the throw to the plate was not in time.

The Trojans added two more unearned runs in the fourth inning as an error on a force play at second helped keep the inning alive. After Whaley advanced to third on the error and Courtney Wallace stole second, Cahoon laced a 3-2 pitch through the right side for her first triple of the season.

After allowing a baserunner on a hit by pitch with one out in the top of the first, Jackson retired the next 11 batters she faced and 14 out of 15 overall. Bourne threw a perfect sixth and Cowdrey overcame a lead-off walk to retire the final three batters of the game for her first save of the season.

Jackson, who struck out two and walked one in five innings, extended her streak of scoreless innings pitched to 22.

Lauren Berst went the distance for Queens allowing four hits and no earned runs.

If Coker (S.C.) College loses one game during its doubleheader today at Lees-McRae, the Trojans will claim the CVAC title outright. The season-ending tournament begins Friday at Hartsville, S.C.

Weather permitting, Mount Olive concludes its home schedule today against Fayetteville State University. Game time is 2 p.m. on the Nancy Chapman Cassell Field diamond.