BANNER ELK, N.C.- In the last regular season game of the 2009 campaign the Royals split with Conference Carolinas opponent Lees-McRae. The Bobcats employed the NCAA run-rule to take the first game 11-1 and Queens countered in the second with an 8-2 victory. The splits gives Queens a record of 13-7 in the league, clinching the fourth place seed in the Conference Carolinas tournament that starts on Friday in Hartsville, S.C. Lees-McRae enters the tournament tied for seventh and will hold the No. 7 seed.
Chantel Dodge (Shalimar, Fla., Choctawatchee) started the first game, but came out after 1.1 innings. In that time she struck out three and gave up five hits. Brittany Stephens (Charlotte, N.C., Hickory Grove Baptist) came in to relieve Dodge and she also struck out three, but gave up eight hits. Stephens threw a complete game in game two.
Offensively, Kari Kmetic (Milwaukie, Ore., Putnam) was 4-6 on the day including two RBI.
In game one, Amanda Dodson threw a complete game three-hitter to earn the win for Lees-McRae. Dodson struck out eight batters and only allowed one walk.
The Bobcats got on the scoreboard first with two runs in the first inning. Katie Alexander drove in both runs with a two out RBI double to left center to give Lees-McRae a 2-0 lead.
Lees-McRae added two more runs in the second inning when Amanda Leonard led off with a single and scored when Ashley Benfield followed with an RBI double. Benfield scored on an Anna Carter sacrifice fly to extend the lead to 4-0.
Queens notched their only run in the top of the third inning when Dodge doubled and scored on a Kmetic RBI single to cut the lead to 4-1.
The Bobcats responded in the bottom of the fourth with two more runs. Leonard led off with a single and was moved to second on a Benfield sacrifice bunt. Meagan Knowles double to right scoring Leonard and scored on a Carter single to push the lead to 6-1.
In the fifth inning, Lees-McRae scored five runs to on two homeruns to give the game the final of 11-1. Nicole Baxter had the first homer with a two-run blast to left center, and Knowles added the second shot with a three-run bomb.
Knowles led the Bobcats offensively by going 2-for-4 with four RBI and two runs scored. Leonard had three hits in three plate appearances and scored three runs. The Lady Bobcats pounded out 13 total hits in the game.
For Queens, Dodge was 1-for-2 with a run scored and Kmetic was 2-for-2 with the teams only RBI.
Game two was a different story with Queens scoring eight runs on ten hits to earn the 8-2 win.
For the second straight game, the Bobcats scored the first run of the game when Knowles reached on an error and scored on a wild pitch to give the Bobcats a 1-0 lead.
Queens took the lead in the top of second when Alisha Waldrop (McDonough, GA , Luella ) smashed a two-run homer to left center to give the Royals a 2-0 lead.
Queens tacked on another run in the top of third when Audra Littlejohn (Riverside, Calif., Centennial ) had an RBI single to make it 3-1. They added three more runs in the fifth on a walk, two singles, a pass ball and an error to push the lead to 5-1.
Lees-McRae scored their final run in the bottom of the sixth when Alexander hit her first career homerun on a solo shot to left to make it 6-2.
Queens added two more runs in the top of the seventh on a solo homer by Amanda Bowman (Kernersville, N.C,, Glenn). Megan Campbell (Raleigh, N.C., Athens Drive ) doubled and scored on a RBI double by Dodge to give the game the final score of 8-2.
Baxter, who was 3-for-3, and Alexander, who was 1-for-3 with the teams only RBI, led the Bobcats.
Bowman, Kmetic and Waldrop were 2-for-4 for the Royals. Waldrop drove in two runs and Bowman scored two runs.
