CHARLOTTE, N.C. -Queens University of Charlotte softball dropped a pair to Wingate University Wednesday afternoon at the WU Softball Complex. The Bulldogs won game 1 9-1 in six innings and picked up game 2 by a score of 7-1. The two losses mark the first time Queens has dropped a series to a non-conference opponent this season.
The Royals fall to 12-14 on the season, the first time they have been below .500 since the Feb. 13. Wingate improves to 12-5.
Game 1
Wingate 9
Queens 1
Six innings
The Bulldogs took a 1-0 lead in the first, but then broke it open by scoring six in the third.
Queens posted its single run of the game in the fourth inning.
Brandy Jester (Georgetown, Del., Sussex Central) led the inning by singling down the left field line. Two batters later
Emma Schultz (Silver Spring, Md., Paint Branch) earned the RBI when she singled, driving Jester in. The Royals closed the inning leaving two on base.
Wingate tacked one more on in the fifth and scored the final run in the sixth.
Schultz was two-for-three with a RBI to lead the Queens attack, while
Emily Poulton (Temecula, Calif., Great Oak) also went two-for-three for the Royals. The Queens offense had eight hits.
Jester went 5.2 innings facing 35 batters, giving up 13 hits and striking out five. Allison Smith got the win, improving to 7-2 on the year. She allowed one unearned run on four hits in four innings of work and struck out four.
Game 2
Wingate 7
Queens 1
Down 3-0 in the third,
Megan Lathbury (Georgetown, Del., Sussex Central) drew a bases-loaded walk to cut the lead to two.
Wingate's Maureen Sandidge hit a three-run homer to give the home team a 6-1 advantage in the fourth. Two innings later the Bulldogs took advantage of a Queens error to score the last run of the game.
Maria Goode (Charlotte, N.C., Providence) and Schultz each provided one hit in the game, the only two for Queens. Sandidge went two-for-four with a homer, four RBI and two runs scored.
Jester took the loss in game two for Queens, allowing seven runs on 11 hits in six innings of work, falling to 7-11.
Ashley Brown got the win in relief. She allowed one hit in 4 2/3 innings of work and struck out seven
