Softball traveled to Whiteville, North Carolina this past Saturday to open conference play against the Rams of Southeastern CC-Whiteville. The Rams took game one and the Trojans responded by winning game two to start 1-1 in conference play.
FTCC vs. Southeastern:
Game One- 8-10, Loss
The Trojans got on top in the first inning scoring three runs on one hit. Trinity Gaither (Bunnlevel, NC) led off with a walk and scored on Isabella Finelli’s (Pembroke, NC) double. Finelli scored on a sac fly from Maddie Burns (Sanford, NC) and Nyla Mitchell (Lumberton, NC) scored on a passed ball.
The Rams took the lead in the third with a big five run inning and added to it in the fourth.
The Trojans put up four more in the top of the sixth to bring the game within two runs. With one out, Jasmine Wagner (Fayetteville, NC), Raven Ross-Gillespie (West End, NC) and Leah Benjamin (McColl, SC) hit back to back singles to load the bases. Gaither smashed a double to center field to plate all three Trojan baserunners. Mitchell later singled to score Gaither as their eighth and last run of the game.
Finelli went 3-4 at the plate and Gaither had three RBIs.
Albani Hooker (Sanford, NC) started on the mound for the Trojans throwing 4.1 innings giving up seven runs with one strikeout. Mia Vasquez (St. Pauls, NC) threw the other 1.2 innings.
Game Two- 16-9, Win
In game two, the Trojans scored in every inning expect the second and the fifth to defeat the Rams in the seven inning contest.
In the first, Burns hit a double that scored Finelli and Hooker who were on the bases from a single and a walk.
Finelli and Mitchell led off the third with singles and scored later in the inning on two Rams errors to take the lead back.
The next two Trojan runs were scored from Hooker’s single to plate Finelli and Mitchell who were back on the bases with a double and a walk.
In the sixth, Finelli led off with her fourth hit of the game then scored on a sac fly by Hooker. Burns hit another double before Wagner took the ball deep over the left field fence.
The Rams pulled the game within two in the bottom of the sixth, but the Trojans had a big seven run inning in the seventh to secure the win.
With one out Gaither hit a solo homerun to plate the tenth Trojan run of the game. Finelli hit a double to have a perfect 5-5 game. Mitchell was hit by a pitch and Hooker hit a double before Burns smashed the third Trojan homerun of the game. Two more singles followed to keep the inning going by Wagner and Grace Bailey (Eastover, NC) who scored the final two runs on a double from Benjamin.
The Rams put two more runs on the board in the bottom of the seventh, but the Trojans took game two for their first conference win of the season.
The Trojans finished the game with 20 hits, six doubles and three homeruns.
Finelli got the win on the mound giving up nine runs with four strikeouts.
The Trojans are back at home this week as they host Salem Community College in a doubleheader on Wednesday starting at 3pm. Then they will play Brunswick Community College for a conference doubleheader on Saturday starting at 1pm and Genesee Community College on Sunday for a non-conference doubleheader at 1pm.
