Game 1 Box
Game 2 Box
ELON, NC – Amanda Zentner hurled back-to-back gems as the Phoenix swept a doubleheader from Radford, 3-0 and 5-4, Thursday afternoon at East Field. The victories propelled Elon to its first-ever 2-0 Big South Conference start.
Previously 3-15 in regular season league games since joining Big South play during the 2000 campaign, Elon (11-25 overall) doubled last year's conference victory total while snapping a five-game losing streak.
Zentner (7-11) threw every Phoenix pitch on the afternoon, scattering 11 hits and six walks over the combined 14 innings. She surrendered just one earned run while fanning seven Highlanders (10-31, 3-3 Big South).
In the opener, Dana Richardson's second-inning sacrifice fly plated Megan Borgaard for the first Phoenix run. Pam Brock hammered her team-leading fifth home run of the season in the third frame, stretching the Elon advantage to 2-0.
Brock notched her second RBI of the contest in the fifth inning when her single to second base sent home Danielle Concepcion, fattening the Phoenix lead to 3-0, the game's eventual final score.
Deana Benner (4-8) suffered the game one loss in the circle, allowing two earned runs on five hits during the Highlanders' six innings in the field. She also walked one Phoenix and struck out three.
Both teams rapped five hits apiece while Elon stranded six base runners to three for Radford, which committed the contests only two errors.
In the nightcap, Elon exploded for four runs in the first frame on Borgaard's grand slam, her first career home run, to left field.
Radford mounted a rally with a run in the fourth and three more in the seventh, in which the Phoenix committed three errors. Payton Nash (Woodbridge, Va.) was the key contributor as she mashed a homer in the fourth to put the Highlanders on the scoreboard, and rapped a two-run double to the seventh to even the score at 4-4.
The rally was shortlived as Elon's Jenny Gustin broke the tie with her game-winning double to center field in the bottom of the seventh.
The Phoenix outhit the Highlanders 7-6 in game two, while Radford left seven runners on the base paths to six for Elon. The Phoenix committed three errors while the Highlanders made one.
Radford reliever Brandy Winstead (3-10) was charged with the setback in game two. She came on in the first frame when Elon chased starter Teresa Brewer (Woodbridge, Va.) 1/3 of an inning into the contest. Brewer logged three earned runs on one hit and two walks and Winstead surrendered one earned score on six hits and one walk. Winstead also recorded three strikeouts.
For the doubleheader, Radford was paced by Nash (3-for-6, run, 3 RBI, double, HR, SB, BB), Ashley Smith (2-for-7, run) and Donita Brady (2-for-6, run, BB). Elon's offense was headed by Brock (2-for-5, 2 runs, 2 RBI, HR, BB), Concepcion (4-for-7, run, SB) and Borgaard (1-for-5, run, 4 RBI, HR).
The Highlanders travel to Norfolk State Sunday for a non-league twinbill, beginning at 1 p.m.
