VIRGINIA BEACH -- A sometimes spirited rivalry between Lynchburg College and Virginia Wesleyan College in women's softball produced a pair of thrillers on Sunday at Marlins Field.

Virginia Wesleyan, the defending Old Dominion Athletic Conference champion and No. 1 in the regular season standing this year, protected that latter position by posting a 6-5 win over the Hornets in the first game and a 3-1 victory in the second game.

While it was a late scoring surge that carried the Marlins (23-9, 13-1) in the first game, it was spectacular defensive efforts that helped win the second game.  Lynchburg (16-16, 7-5) started to build some momentum in the top of the sixth,  but Marlin outfielder Tori Higginbotham (Glen Allen, Va./J.R. Tucker) diffused it when she made a diving catch on the run to her left to pin the second out on the Hornets

Lynchburg had one more inning to cut into the 3-1 VWC lead, but saw it snuffed out when second baseman Kelly Keys (Manassas, Va./Osbourn Park) made a diving catch to her left to rob Amber Ingram of a hit, and end the game.

Virginia Wesleyan came behind in both games as Lynchburg jumped out to 1-0 leads.  The Hornets went on to build a 4-0 in the opener, before VWC started its comeback.  The Marlins scored at least one run in their final five innings at bat to win.

Lynchburg kept the pressure on however, tying the game at 5-all in the top of the seventh with the help of a Taylor Walker (Poquoson, Va./Poquoson) single that scored Melanie Tenney (Yorktown, Va./Tabb), who led off with a walk.

Virginia Wesleyan wasted little time in getting something started in the bottom of the inning as senior Jaclyn Quinn (Chesapeake, Va./Hickory) singled. A sacrifice moved her to second and a wild pitch sent her to third.  SeniorBrianna Bertovich (Richmond, Va./Monacan) stepped up to be the hero of the game for VWC as she belted a bouncing single over the second baseman to score Quinn.

Rookie Kristina Karagiorgis (Asburn, Va./Briar Woods) pitched six innings in the first game and faced27 batters.  She walked two, struck out one, and gave up six hits and two earned runs.  MacKenzie Creech (Hillsborough, N.C./Orange) threw in one inning and fanned one, walked two, and gave up a hit and an earned run.

Both teams had seven hits in the first game.  Bertovich led VWC with two and Walker led Lynchburg with two.

Hitting was tough in the second game as well, but VWC finished with a slim 7-6 edge.  Senior Brenae Pettit (Onancock, Va./Nandua) led the way with two hits.  Walker once again led Lynchburg with two hits.

After Lynchburg opened with a run in the first inning, VWC tied the game in the bottom of the third on a Higginbotham single up the middle.  Her hit scored seniorHeather Bishop (Virginia Beach/Ocean Lakes) who led off the inning with a single to right.

The Marlins moved in front in the bottom of the fifth, which started with back-to-back singles from Andrea Shannon (Newville, Pa./Big Spring) and Pettit.  A Hornet error scored Shannon and a Quinn single tallied the second run.

Creech pitched the distance for the Marlins, striking out five and walking two.  She scattered six hits and allowed just one earned run.  Kaitlyn Morris (Elkton, Va./Page County) also worked all the way for Lynchburg and struck out one batter.  She walked one and gave up seven hits and two earned runs.

Virginia Wesleyan competes again on Wednesday, April 18, in a non-conference doubleheader at Methodist University starting at 4 p.m.

--AMDG--