Softball Posts First Shutout Of Season, Sweeps Southeastern

SPARTANBURG, SC – The Lady Pioneers softball welcomed Southeastern Community College to town on Saturday with a big set of wins in front of the home crowd and SMC's first shutout of the season.

SMC opened the day with a five-inning, 9-0 win.

The lady Pioneers trotted out freshman Ashira Dobison who quietly tossed her first career collegiate no hitter. Dobison allowed two base runners, one walk and one hit batter while striking out four.

With a dominating performance on the mound from Dobison, the Pioneer bats quickly heated up in the third inning as freshman Brittany Phillips singled to lead off the inning and scored when the Southeastern right fielder misplayed Jackie Slawson's single.
Slawson advanced to third and easily scored on freshman Morgan Blanton's single to center field.

Freshman leftfielder Jazmine Holliday reached on a fielder's choice, stole second and third and trotted home on a passed ball.

The Lady Pioneers pushed two runs across in the fourth inning after Dena Messer doubled to lead off the inning and advanced to third on a error off the bat of Crystal Smith.

Blanton then collected her second hit to center field driving in Messer and Smith to make the score 5-0.

With Dobison cruising on the mound the Pioneers quickly returned to the offensive attack.

Holliday led off the fifth inning with a single to right, stole second base and scored on Jena Westmoreland's single to left field.

Messer added her second hit of the day driving in Westmoreland. Messer moved to second after Smith drew a walk, Phillips then reached first on a fielder's choice advancing Messer to third.

Phillips took off for second base getting into a long rundown allowing Messer to score. Phillips advanced to second base and raced to third on the bad throw. Another error allowed her to race home and end the game.
"Brittany is a smart player and really knows how to run the bases. She knew the situation and got into the rundown so we could get Messer in to score," said head coach Thad Fox.

"Ashira threw a great game today and continues to embrace the game one starting role. Throwing a no hitter at any level is very special and we are extremely proud of her efforts and the defense played behind her. Our bats continue to get hotter and finally playing at home is only going to help us get on a roll," Fox added.

Game two on Saturday featured another offensive explosion from the Lady Pioneers and a strong mound performance from starter Britni Ward and reliever Dana Smith, in a 7-1 win.

SMC added two quick runs in the bottom of the first after Kelsey Pruitt singled to left and scored on Jazmine Holliday's double to center field.

Holliday then trotted home off a single from Morgan Blanton.

SMC got two more runs in the second inning after Jackie Slawson singled, stole second and scored on Holliday's base hit to left also driving in Pruitt.

Three more runs came in the sixth when Rebecca Harris added a pinch hit single and moved to second when Brittany Phillips reached on a error. Slawson singled to score Harris.

With two outs, Jena Westmoreland beat out a infield single, scoring Slawson on the final run of the game. Dana Smith relieved Ward in the seventh and made quick work of the opponents.

"We needed this sweep. We have played fairly well on the road and getting splits in many of the series wasn't enough. We talked about getting a four game weekend sweep this weekend and nothing else would do. Our bats are waking up a little. Sixteen runs on 21 hits is exactly what we needed," commented Fox.

Spartanburg Methodist College has 14 intercollegiate teams that compete in Region X of the National Junior College Athletic Association, which includes colleges in the Carolinas, Virginia, and West Virginia. The College is in its 99th year of providing quality education to students in a Christian environment.  More than 90 percent of SMC graduates continue their education at other institutions of higher learning.

For more information contact the SMC Sports Information office at (864) 587-4008 or sportsinfo@smcsc.edu