Scores:
Carolina University 13, Salem 8
Salem 9, Carolina University 8

Up Next:
Salem at Livingstone | February 19 | Salisbury, N.C. | 1 p.m. / 3 p.m.

Records:
Salem (1-1) / Carolina (1-3)

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – With the bases loaded in an eight-all tie in the bottom of the seventh of game two, sophomore Maleah Tate laid down a bunt that scored Savanah Atkins from third, to complete a come-from-behind victory for the Spirits, who split the series with crosstown foe Carolina University. 

Carolina took the first game of the doubleheader by a 13-8 margin, but the Spirits earned the split with the 9-8 triumph in game two. 

Tate capped off a three-run seventh, which began with a single to centerfield by senior Madeline Brown. With Brown on the base pads, Cassandra Miller drove a two-run home run over the right centerfield wall to even the contest at 8-8. Atkins drew a walk and moved to third on a single to right field by Karma Morrison. Two batters later, Rheanne Tullock loaded the bases with a walk of her own.

The speedy Tate stepped into the batter's box with two outs and dropped a bunt back to the pitcher, allowing Atkins to score the game-winning run. The victory capped off a complete game victory for first-year pitcher Isabella Morales, who struck out seven batters along the way.

GAME 1 | Carolina 13, Salem 8
W: Danielle Brooks (1-1) / L: Cassandra Miller (0-1)
Salem Leaders: Taela Belcher (2-4, RBI, 2 runs), Ashlyn Stokes (2-4, 2 RBI, 2 runs), Cassandra Miller (2-3, 2 RBI), Kat Price (5.2 IP, 10 hits allowed, four earned runs)

SALEM HIGHLIGHTS
-Cassandra Miller collected the first hit of the Spirits on the season, which came on a flare into shallow left field.
-Taela Belcher delivered the first extra-base hit, a triple to right centerfield, which came to lead off the fourth inning. Belcher scored the first run of the game for the Spirits on a steal of home.
-Salem closed out the game with eight hits, receiving two hits each from the combination of Stokes, Belcher and Miller.
-The top-third of the Salem lineup, which consisted of Maleah Tate (1-4), Belcher (2-4) and Stokes (2-4) combined for five of the team's eight hits.
-Miller made her debut in the circle and faced 16 batters over 1.1 innings, allowing 10 hits, eight runs (six earned runs) and notching one strikeout.
-Salem had a four-run fifth inning which came on three hits. The first of the runs came when Tate crossed the plate on a double down the left field line by Belcher. Stokes reached on a single to shortstop, which moved Belcher to third.
-After Belcher scored from third on a fielding error, Miller singled to centerfield, scoring both Karma Morrison and Ashlyn Stokes for the Spirits.

CAROLINA HIGHLIGHTS
-Bruins jumped out to an early 5-0 lead, coming through with six hits along the way.
-Carolina tacked on three runs in the second and sixth inning to give them three multi-run innings.
-Six Bruins' hitters had multi-hit games, including Kalea Bolch, who finished 4-of-5 at the plate with six RBI, one double and a home run.

GAME 2 | Salem 9, Carolina 8
W: Isabella Morales (1-0) / L: Mary Miller (0-1)
Salem Leaders: Madeline Brown (4-4, 2 RBI, run, two 3B), Maleah Tate (4-5, 2 RBI, 2 run, 2 SB), Taela Belcher (2-4, RBI, two runs), Cassandra Miller (1-4, 2 RBI, run, HR), Ashlyn Stokes (2-4, run)

SALEM HIGHLIGHTS
-Spirits finish with 15 hits, marking the first time since a 15-2 win over Livingstone on March 20, 2023, that Salem has had double-digit hits in a single game.
-Madeline Brown becomes the fifth different player in Salem softball history to have two triples in a game. She joins Abby Settles (2012), Allie Watkins (2013) and Hannah Nolan (2016) as the only players to have two in a single game. Alli Stertzbach owns the program record with three triples in a game.
-The Top-3 hitters, which consisted of Maleah Tate, Taela Belcher and Madeline Brown accounted for 10 of Salem's 15 hits in the game.
-The four-hit outing by Tate establishes a single-game career-high for the outfielder. Tate has three multi-hit games in her Salem career, notching two in 2023.
-Isabella Morales faced 33 batters over the course of the game, making 96 pitches along the way. Morales tallied 66 strikes in her 96 pitches on the contest.
-Morales allowed just two multi-hit innings by the Bruins in her first collegiate start.
-Tate led off the game with a bunt single and followed with two steals before she scored on a passed ball.
-Brown drove home Belcher, who reached on a single to left in the third, with a triple to left, tying the game at 2-2.
-Belcher connected on a double down the left field line in the home half of the fifth, scoring Tate, before Brown's second triple of the game scored Belcher for the fourth Salem run.
-Salem came through with three hits in the sixth, including a single to third by Stokes and a single to short by Tullock. Morales helped her cause with a sacrifice bunt that scored Stokes from third.
-Tate dropped a single into centerfield, scoring Tullock, as Salem pulled to within two, 8-6.

CAROLINA HIGHLIGHTS
-The Bruins assumed an early 2-0 lead in the top half of the first, highlighted by a home run off the bat of Makayla Johnson.
-Carolina's biggest inning of the game came in the fourth, where the Bruins scored five runs on four hits and took advantage of one Salem error along the way.
-In the fifth, Carolina scored its first run on a single to centerfield by Jocelyn DeMoss. DeMoss reached home on a fielding error with a hit to left field by Lexi Hall.
-Alexis Wynne kept the Bruins' bats rolling with a bunt single that scored Hall. The final run of the frame came when Johnson crossed the plate on a passed ball.
-The Bruins scored their final run of the game in the fifth on a solo home run by Kourtney Cox.