BELMONT, N.C. -- Belmont Abbey and Southern Wesleyan battled through momentum swifts all afternoon long, with each team taking a game of the Conference Carolinas doubleheader at Crusader Field. The Crusaders won the opener 5-4 in eight innings with the Warriors rallying for a 4-2 victory in the nightcap.
With the split, The Abbey is now 8-14 overall and 2-4 in league play, while SWU is  15-7, 4-1.
THE OPENER
- Megan Towery had three hits and Hannah Jane Gard singled and doubled as part of the Crusaders' 11-hit attack.
- Tied at 2 after seven innings, the teams combined for five runs in the eighth. The Abbey revered a 4-2 deficit with three in the bottom of the frame. Gard's doubled to left to make the score 4-3, before Jordan Stefani plated the tying and winning runs on a two-out, fly ball to center that got lost in the sun. Â
- The Warriors had taken a 2-0 lead with runs in the second and third before The Abbey tied the contest in the fifth. Casey Laing hit a sacrifice fly before an infield single by Towery placed pinch runner Trinity Wall.
- Lilly Hartsell (1-3), who came on in relief in the sixth, earned the win, retiring nine of the 11 batters she faced.
THE NIGHTCAP
- Casey Laing had two hits and Kennedy Teasley hit her first home run of the season, but the Crusaders only managed one other hit, a single by Abby Peisker.
- Teasley's two-run homer in the second inning put The Abbey up 2-1, but the Warriors answered with a home-run in the third to even the score.
- In the fourth, Southern Wesleyan hit a sacrifice fly to left center that scored a runner from second and added an insurance home run for the final margin.
- Sienna Garcia took the loss to fall to 4-7.
UP NEXT
- Belmont Abbey was slated to travel to Newberry tomorrow, but the game has been preemptively postponed by expected weather.
- The Crusaders now host Northwest Division rival Lees-McRae on Saturday in their next outing.
