Freshman Sierra Hearp (Roanoke Rapids) added three hits at the plate while giving up just four from the pitching mound in earning her fourth win in five decisions.
However, Barton (9-7) could manage only a split on the day with the Monarchs (3-13), who rapped out seven hits and took advantage of two BC errors to score three unearned runs in a 6-2 victory in the opener.
Game 2: Barton 10, Methodist 2 (5 inn.)
After producing six hits in all of game one, Barton hammered out six in the first inning of the nightcap.
Singles by Megan Kelly and Hearp, an RBI groundout by Taylor Martin and an RBI single by Brittany Jacobs gave the Lady Bulldogs a quick 2-0 lead.
Three batters later, Morgan Pedley singled home two more runs, and Speight followed with a two-run double down the left field line that put Barton up 6-0.
After a Methodist error extended the inning, Hearp delivered her second single of the inning, this one driving in the seventh run of the frame for the Lady Bulldogs.
The Monarchs got some of those runs back in the bottom of the first, producing two singles and a two-run double by Hannah Key to cut the deficit to five at 7-2.
However, Hearp allowed Methodist just one more hit in the game and retired nine of the final 10 batters she faced. Hearp walked two and struck out two on the day in improving to 4-1 on the year.
Barton shortened Hearp’s workload when it scored three runs in the fifth to bring the eight-run rule into play. Speight drove in the first two of those runs with a triple, then scored herself on a groundout by Kelly.
In addition to the three hits for Hearp and two for Speight, the Lady Bulldogs also received two hits and two runs scored from Samantha Santmyers.
Emily Hester (0-2) took the pitching loss for Methodist after failing to get out of the first inning.
Game 1: Methodist 6, Barton 2
Methodist collected all the runs it would need in the first inning, using four hits and a Barton error to score three times, two of those unearned.
The Lady Bulldogs chipped away at the Monarchs’ lead, getting one run back on an RBI single in the top of the second by Pedley and adding another on a passed ball in the top of the third to climb within one at 3-2.
However, the Monarchs pulled away again in the bottom of the fourth, manufacturing three runs off Barton starter Carolina Merrill (0-3) on just one hit, two walks, a hit batsman and a Barton error. Chloe Hespeler had the one hit, a single up the middle that drove in two of the runs.
Hespeler helped her own cause with the hit, as she was also the starting pitcher. Hespeler (1-5) gave up five hits and one earned run while walking two in earning her first win of the year. Aly Thomas tossed the final three innings, allowing just one hit in getting her first save.
Barton will return to action this weekend, when it will play five games over three days in the Shaw University Softball Challenge. The tournament will be played at Thomas Brooks Park in Cary, N.C. The Lady Bulldogs will begin play on Friday with games at 12:30 p.m. against Queens University and 3 p.m. against Clarion University.
