Inman Tosses One-Hitter – Sterner Hits Fourth HR of Season

RALEIGH – Ashley Inman threw a one-hit hit shutout and Rachael Sterner belted her fourth home run of the season to lead Mansfield to a 6-0 win over Alderson-Broaddus at the Shaw University Softball Challenge in Raleigh, NC Saturday afternoon.

Mansfield dropped its second game of the day 10-2 to Chowan (NC).

In the opener, Melanie Taylor doubled to center to lead off the bottom of the first and scored on Amanda Goodwin's single for a 1-0 Mountaineer lead.

Mansfield added another run in the third inning when Sterner drilled a solo home run down the left field line upping the score to 2-0.

The Mountaineers doubled the lead to 4-0 with a pair of runs in the fourth. Megan Miller led off with a triple to right and Hannah Secord drew a walk before Inman drove both runners across the plate with a double to left.

Goodwin would lead off the bottom of the fifth with a double followed by a walk to Sterner. Kayla Hahn then sacrificed the runners to second and third before Miller delivered a two-run single giving the Mountaineers a 6-0 lead.

Inman was overwhelming in the circle, allowing just a leadoff single to Whitney Brown in the fourth. She preserved her second shutout in two days by pitching her way out of a jam in the second inning.

Alderson-Broaddus first two batters walked and moved up to second and third on a sacrifice bunt before Inman struck out the next two batters to end the inning.

The senior struck out a season-high 11 batters while allowing three walks. Over the last 24 hours, Inman threw two complete games giving up just three hits and striking out 19 batters while not allowing a run to improve to 3-2 on the season.

Inman and Miller each had two hits and drove in two runs with Goodwin also collecting a pair of hits and an RBI.

In the nightcap, Chowan scored three runs in the first inning off freshman starter Ari Young before Mansfield closed the gap to 3-1 after Miller led off the inning with a double and later scored on a double by Secord.

Chowan would add seven more runs off three Mansfield pitchers to take a 10-1 going into the fifth. In the top of the inning, Mansfield scored a run after two-out singles by Sterner and Hahn but left two runners stranded.

Hahn topped the offense with two hits while Miller and Secord each doubled. Tina White had three hits for Chowan while Danielle Baccus drove in three runs. Delanie Winslow picked up the win.

The loss snapped a three-game winning-streak for the Mountaineers with all three wins coming on shutouts.

Mansfield plays Winston-Salem in a single game on Sunday.