Kayla Drury's walk-off single in the bottom of the eighth inning of game two capped off Stetson's doubleheader sweep of visiting Cornell Tuesday evening at Patricia Wilson Field. The Hatters (17-9) won 10-3 in game one and 7-6 in game two to extend their home winning streak to 11 games.
Courtney Brandt went 4-for-7 at the plate with a double, a home run, and four RBI to lead the Hatters. She also pitched a complete game in game one while Taylor Cochran went the distance in game two to earn her first career victory.
"I am more relaxed now, and I'm actually watching the ball better," Brandt said about her day at the plate. "I just feel great and it's awesome going into conference and to start hitting again."
Demi Meza also homered, Brittany Hawn collected four hits, and Drury drove in four runs on the day.
After falling behind 1-0 in game one, the Hatters scored four in their half of the first, hilighted by a suicide squeeze by Meza and Brandt's fifth home run of the season, a two-run shot to left.
Drury drove in a pair of runs with a single to center in the bottom of the third inning to help break the game open. Morgan Hatch added another two-run single in the fourth, and Drury's RBI single in the sixth capped the scoring for Stetson.
Brandt (3-3) allowed just one earned run over seven innings, walking four and striking out six.
Game two featured a late three-run rally by Cornell to force extra innings before Stetson won it in the bottom of the eighth inning.
With the international tie-break rule in effect and the score tied at six, Jordan Cleghorn sacrificed Brandt to third. After Molly Shasteen picked up an infield single, Drury lined a 1-0 pitch into rightcenter field for the Hatters' second walk-off win in a week.
Shasteen also made a key defensive play in right field in the top of the seventh, firing the ball into second base to record a force out after an apparent hit by Lauren Bucolo.
"That was a big out, huge," Cochran said. "For her to come into the game, she is only a freshman, it was just a huge out and I really appreciated it."
Cochran (1-2) struck out a career-high seven batters over eight innings of work. She threw 144 pitches for the game.
Meza's fifth home run of the season tied the game 3-3 in the bottom of the fourth inning.
The Hatters will host Marshall at 4 p.m. on Wednesday.
Notes: The Hatters started five freshmen and two sophomores in game one ... Stetson collected 20 hits on the day.
