JACKSONVILLE, Florida – UNCW's Mary Sobataka and Skylar Stockton combined for nine hits, including five for extra bases, in the Seahawks' Saturday road doubleheader sweep against Jacksonville at the Pruitt Softball Complex.
UNCW (4-4) earned a 5-4 win in eight innings, its second straight extra-inning game, in Game 1 and coasted to a 5-1 victory in Game 2 win over the Dolphins (3-7).
The Seahawks totaled an impressive 18 hits over the two contests. Stockton extended her hitting streak to six games and also pushed her reached-base streak to eight games.
SCHEDULE UPDATE: Sunday's game vs. Samford has been CANCELED due to expected weather conditions. The Seahawks will resume play next Thursday (Feb. 22) vs. George Mason when the teams open up a four-day tournament at Boseman Field.
GAME 1 | UNCW 5, Jacksonville 4
Junior right-hander Kara Hammock (2-2) picked up the win with four relief innings of one-run ball. The Seahawks deployed four pitchers, including Hammock and opener Carrigan Ewers.
Jacksonville starter Reese Wells was tagged for two runs in two innings while reliever Shelby Harper covered the remaining six innings, working around seven hits for three runs, with two unearned.
Stockton, who was a home run shy of the cycle, recorded her first career three-hit game in the Saturday opener. The center fielder also scored two runs highlighted by the go-ahead score in extras on a Morgan Britt sac-fly.
Sobataka authored her fourth career three-hit game as well, driving in the first two runs with a second-inning triple. The Dolphins got on the board in the bottom of the second with an RBI double by catcher Averi Harcus.
The Seahawks, however, got that run back the next inning with a single to the right-center gap and added an insurance run in the fifth on freshman Cassidy Relay's first career RBI to go up 4-1.
Jacksonville made it a 4-3 game with two unearned runs in the bottom of the fifth and knotted the score at 4-all an inning later with a Lindsey Chadwick single.
UNCW went into extras with Stockton placed on second to start the eighth. A Relay groundout advanced her to third and Stockton then scored on Britt's sac fly to right field.
Hammock retired the final two batters to strand the tying run on third base in the bottom frame to preserve the win.
GAME 2 | UNCW 5, Jacksonville 1
UNCW used five straight hits, started by Stockton's second double of the twinbill, to score four first-inning runs and cruised to the victory. Britt, junior Arial Pearce, Relay, and junior Lauryn Richardson all rattled off four straight singles in the frame with Pearce driving in two runs.
Seahawk right-hander Emily Winstead (2-0) continued her strong start to the season with five innings of one-run ball followed by two scoreless frames by Ewers.
Jacksonville's Skylar Waggoner was tagged for five runs, four earned, and nine hits in the complete game effort.
Dolphins first baseman Kailey Harrigan drove in a run in the bottom of the first on a double but the Seahawks responded with a sac-fly by Stockton that scored Sobataka, who doubled to start the second, that pushed the lead back to four runs, 5-1.
