The Belmont Abbey softball team was swept in a Conference Carolinas doubleheader at Mount Olive this afternoon, dropping the opener 12-4 in five innings and losing the nightcap 4-0. Mount Olive improves to 23-7 overall and 10-2 in Conference Carolinas, while the Abbey drops to 8-24 overall and 1-9 in Conference Carolinas.

In the opener, the Abbey exploded for three runs in the top of the first to bolt out to the early lead. Carol-Anne Sherrill worked a leadoff walk and moved to second when Hannah Bright reached on an error. Another Trojans error off the bat of Nikki Faust loaded the bases. After a strikeout, Emily Self was hit by a pitch, plating Sherrill with the game's first run. Kaitlyn Jones made it 2-0 when her fly ball to left center was deep enough to score Bright on the sacrifice fly to up the lead to 2-0. Kinsey McClure kept the rally going with a single to right, plating Faust, to tack on another run.

The lead was short lived, as the Trojans matched the Abbey's number in the bottom of the inning on a pair of RBI singles, while the tying run scored on a passed ball.

Two innings later, Mount Olive put the game away by scoring eight runs on six hits. Two innings later, and down to its final three outs unless a run was scored, the Abbey did just that as the Faust twins connected to plate the Crusaders last run of the game.

Nikki Faust led off with a double and scored when twin sister Amber Faust chased her home with a double. The run lowered the deficit to seven, allowing the game to continue. However, Faust was left stranded at second as the inning ended.

Mount Olive ended the game in the bottom of the frame as a walk, followed by a single moved the lead back to eight runs, concluding the game there.

Belmont Abbey finished the game with four hits, coming from four different players: the Fausts, McClure and Brooke Baliles. The Crusaders were error-free defensively.

Samantha Jacobs took the loss after giving up five runs, four earned, on four hits in two innings. She walked four and did not record a strikeout.

The nightcap was a scoreless game until the fifth when Mount Olive plated a unearned run on a Crusader error. One inning later, the Trojans tacked on three more, getting a pair of RBI doubles and an RBI single.

Nikki Faust took the loss in the circle, as she allowed four runs, three earned, on seven hits in five and one-thirds innings. She fanned five and did not issue a walk.

Sherrill, Bright and Amber Faust all had one hit for the Abbey, which finished with three.

Game 1 Box

Game 2 Box