MURFREESBORO, N.C. - - Senior Stephanie Sarris pitched the Wilmington University softball team to a pair of come wins over Chowan, 5-2 and 4-3, including an extra inning, international tiebreaker game in the nightcap at Hawks' Field on Tuesday afternoon.
Sarris pitched the first four innings of the first game, striking out seven batters in the win before coming in and tossing the final two innings in relief in game two, picking up her second win of the day for the Wildcats (11-13 overall).
The Wildcats needed a comeback in the first game, as they came back from a 1-0 deficit with a three-run fourth inning.
Miranda Pedersen started the inning with a single through the right side. Ashley Bennet followed with another single before Michelle Panasiti tied the game with a double down the left field line without any outs in the inning. Jen Fischbach gave the Wildcats the lead with a sacrifice fly, allowing Bennett to score from third. Now with two outs, Cambria Ziemba recorded the third run of the inning, singling back up the middle to score Panasiti to give the visitors a 3-1 lead.
Bennett gave the Wildcats an insurance run in the fifth with a sacrifice fly before Pedersen put the nail in the Hawks (10-24 overall) with an RBI double in the seventh.
Sarris allowed one run on three hits in four innings before turning the game over to Colby Wyatt came on to pitch the final three innings to pick up the save. Wyatt allowed three hits and one run to earn her second save of the season.
Wilmington carried over the momentum into the early part of game two, as Kelsey Doherty scored in the top of the first on a passed ball after starting the game off with a double.
Game two starter Jen Fischbach shut the Hawks down in order in the first two innings, allowing the Wildcat offense to collect two more runs in the top of the third inning. Pedersen and Bennett walked to put the first two runners on base before a Brooke Lachette single scored both runners with two outs for the 3-0 lead.
But the Hawks came back with three runs in the bottom of the fifth inning, tying the game. After neither team could score in the final two innings of regulation, the teams went to the international tiebreaker, putting a runner on second to start the inning.
Bennett sacrificed Pedersen over to third and Panasiti singled up the middle to score Pedersen from third for the go-ahead run.
Sarris, who came on in the bottom of the seventh, earned the first two out on a pair of strikeouts with a runner on second in the eighth before inducing a ground out to short for the third and final out of the game.
Six different Wildcats recorded hits in the nightcap after Pedersen led the way with a 3-for-4 effort in the opener. Fischbach and Ziemba added two hits each in the first game of the afternoon.
Fischbach went the first four innings in the circle for the Wildcats, only allowing three hits and no runs before Wyatt came on for two innings of relief. Sarris came on to start the seventh and earned the win, improving to 5-4 on the year after the two wins on Tuesday.
Wilmington returns to action on Thursday when they head across town to face Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference foe Goldey-Beacom. The first pitch of the doubleheader is scheduled for 3 p.m.