Skipjacks sweep Hagerstown, improve to 26-0
WYE MILLS – Michelle Lawrenson and Cheyenne Riley obviously know a little something about timing.
The pair, honored on Chesapeake College's annual Sophomore Day Wednesday afternoon, celebrated with a combined four hits and five RBI in a 10-2 victory over Hagerstown Community College to cap a doubleheader sweep. Lawrenson (2-for-3, four RBI) ended the game with a two-run, fifth-inning single to left-center that allowed the unbeaten Skipjacks (26-0 overall, 16-0 league) to invoke the slaughter rule.
"I was just looking to fight off anything close in the zone," said Lawrenson, who went 2-for-3 with four RBI and a run scored while batting ninth for the Skipjacks. "We're always hitting up and down the lineup. It's always a group effort for us."
Riley, 2-for-2 with a pair of well-placed bunt singles and a walk while batting eighth, agreed.
"We're a strong team all the way through the lineup," said Riley, who also drove in one run and scored another as Chesapeake won the opener, 6-2.
While Lawrenson, Riley and Samantha Greenwell (3-for-3, double, triple, three runs) were sparking the offense, Game 2 pitcher Stephanie Weyermiller threw a tidy two-hitter against Hagerstown with three strikeouts and no walks.
The Hawks (15-13, 8-8) came into the doubleheader batting a nation's-best .440 among NJCAA Division II colleges, but could manage just three baserunners against Weyermiller. Hagerstown bunched them all together in the fourth inning, when a double by Shayla Murray, Kayla Ewing's RBI hit and an infield error produced the Hawks' two runs.
Chesapeake used a five-run second inning to take command of Game 2. Greenwell doubled off the right-field fence, Taryn Zietlow reached on an error and both runners moved up on a passed ball before Abby Tyner hit a sacrifice fly to center to plate Greenwell for a 1-0 lead.
Kellieann Tyner then walked and Riley dropped a bunt single right in front of home plate, dancing around it to navigate her way safely to first. Lawrenson then drilled a double over center fielder Jenna Crunkleton's head to plate Zietlow and Kellieann Tyner, with Riley subsequently scoring on a Morgan Purdham wild pitch.
Hannah Stringer's safety squeeze scored Lawrenson to cap the rally and give the Skipjacks a 5-0 cushion.
Greenwell tripled and scored on a Purdham wild pitch in the third to make it 6-0. After Hagerstown cut the gap to 6-2 with its two-run fourth, the Skipjacks responded with one in the fourth and three in the fifth to wrap up the win.
Chesapeake scored all three fifth-inning runs with two outs as Riley walked with the bases loaded to force in a run and set the stage for Lawrenson's two-run single that she lined to left center.
"She's a little thing, but she's got some power," Chesapeake head coach Durrie Hayes said of the diminutive Lawrenson.
Chesapeake's Game 1 win was built around a five-run fourth that wiped out a 2-1 deficit and featured RBI hits by Riley, Ali Jones and Stringer (2-for-4). Catcher Kaley Schreiber's fifth-inning pickoff of Murray at second base after the Hawks had put the first two runners on was the game's key defensive play, according to Hayes.
"They had their No. 3 hitter up with nobody out and two on – and then all of a sudden it's a runner on first and one out," Hayes said of the play, which began with Schreiber throwing to second baseman Riley, whose throw to third baseman Greenwell allowed Greenwell to apply the tag on Murray in a rundown.
Winning pitcher Kellieann Tyner spaced nine hits with two strikeouts and no walks.
The Skipjacks play a 4 p.m. doubleheader Thursday at Potomac State College (14-2).