HARROGATE, Tenn. – Redshirt-junior Ashton Whitaker's big day helped Queens University of Charlotte to split at Lincoln Memorial University on Saturday, April 8 at LMU's Neely Field.

Whitaker went 3-for-4 with three RBI in game one as she helped the Royals (17-24, 3-11) to a 7-4 victory. The Railsplitters (21-16, 4-8) rebounded to take game two, 8-4.

Game One: Queens 7, Lincoln Memorial 4
The opening inning started out with a bang as both the Royals and Railsplitters found success with the long ball.

Second baseman Sydney Ditto led the game off an infield single. After a sac bunt followed by a stolen base moved Ditto onto third base, designated player Ashton Whitaker put the Royals up 2-0 when she drilled her first homerun of the season over the leftfield wall.

The Railsplitters grabbed one of the runs back in bottom half of the first inning when shortstop Dakotah Fraley led off with a solo homerun. 

Queens got the offense revved up again in third inning as once again Ditto and Whitaker were involved. Ditto led the frame off with a base knock to right field. After a sac bunt moved Ditto into scoring position, Whitaker drove Ditto in again with hit back up the middle. 

Unlike the first inning, the Royals weren't done scoring though as right fielder Alyssa Strickler drove in Skye Moore with a slice down the right field line. QU starting pitcher Evie Scott then helped her own cause with an RBI base hit to put the team up 5-1. 

Three innings later Queens expanded that lead to 6-2 when an LMU error allowed Breanna Martinez to touch home.

Lincoln Memorial cut into the lead in the bottom half of the sixth inning with two runs, but Queens tacked on an insurance run in the seventh inning to hold on for the 7-4 victory. Strickler added QU's insurance run on a RBI double down the leftfield line. 

Game Two: Lincoln Memorial 8, Queens 4
The Railsplitters wasted little time getting on the scoreboard as third baseman Ty-Kella Goins and catcher Jennifer Moose hit back-to-back solo homeruns to put them up 2-0 in the first inning. 

Lincoln Memorial kept their power surge going into the second inning as centerfielder Ashlea Hunter hit a two-out solo homerun. After a Dakotah Fraley double and a hit-by-pitch, Jennifer Moose doubled in both of them on a two-base hit to left-centerfield. 

Then, after a QU pitching change, first baseman Meredith Johnson hit a two-run homer to put LMU up 7-0. 

Queens then got into the long ball game themselves as first baseman Kelly Winter launched her third homerun of the season as she hit a two-run shot over the left-centerfield wall in the third inning. Winter drove Sydney Ditto in who had led the frame off with a double. 

The Royals further cut into the lead in the fifth inning when Ashton Whitaker drove in Ditto on a RBI hit to right field. QU then scored another when Kelly Winter came home on a Skye Moore steal attempt. 

Unfortunately, Lincoln Memorial added one more in the bottom half of the fifth inning while holding Queens scoreless the rest of the way en route to the 8-4 victory. 

Up Next
Queens is back in action on Wednesday, April 12 as they welcome in Catawba College for a conference doubleheader. First pitch is scheduled for 2 p.m.