No. 16 Gaston College wraps up outright title with regular season-ending DH sweep

No. 16 Gaston College officially wrapped up its fourth straight Region 10 regular season title while extending its winning streak to 18 games to finish the regular season with 55 victories on Wednesday afternoon.

The Rhinos won 9-0 in six innings in the opener and 10-5 in the nightcap of the doubleheader at Florence Darlington Tech.

"We talked after the game about how special it is to win 55 games in back-to-back regular seasons, especially for the sophomores who have been on both of those teams," Gaston College coach Michael Steuerwald said. "It's always special to win conference but to do in on FloDar's field after they were the only team to beat us this year is really special.

Starters Aidan Ledbetter and Sophia Crist threw complete game victories as the Rhinos avenged their lone league loss - a 9-7 defeat in the nightcap of a March 28 doublehader.

"It's always special to win conference but to do in on FloDar's field after they were the only team to beat us this year is really special," Steuerwald said.

Ledbetter threw a three-hit shutout with seven strikeouts and Crist tossed a six-hitter with three strikeouts and two earned runs.

Savanna Mullis (5 hits, double, 3 RBIs), Mary Hinson (3 hits, 3 RBIs), Katelyn Brandon (3 hits, double), McKenna Jones (3 hits, 1 RBI), Adah Bruining (3 hits, 2 doubles, home run, 4 RBIs), Miranda Wall (3 hits, 2 doubles, 2 RBIs) were the offensive leaders.

Gaston College is off until next Thursday when it begins the six-team Region 10 championship at Tyger River Park in Duncan, S.C. The winner of that double-elimination event advances to the National Junior College Athletic Association Mid-Atlantic District tournament that will be hosted by the Region 17 champion.