Hickory, N.C. ? The No. 20 Lenoir-Rhyne University Softball Team (29-5, 2-0) opened South Atlantic Conference play with a doubleheader sweep of Lincoln Memorial University (20-8, 0-2), 18-4 and 6-3, Saturday afternoon at Bears Field.
Game One ? Lenoir-Rhyne 18, Lincoln Memorial 4 (five innings)
Lenoir-Rhyne scored 16 runs in the bottom of the first inning en route to the easy victory as the Bears run-ruled the Lady Railsplitters in five innings.
After Lincoln Memorial?s Ashley Legge (St. Paris, Ohio) opened the game with a two-run home run in the top of the first inning, L-R responded with a 16-run frame in its half of the first highlighted by a two-run single from freshman second baseman Shania Johnson (Hickory, N.C.) and a three-run home run from sophomore catcher Sarah Atkins (Newport News, Va.).
L-R was also aided in the inning by four Lincoln Memorial errors as nine of the 16 runs were unearned.
Johnson finished three-for-three with three runs batted in and Atkins drove in a game-high four runs while L-R sophomore Dawon Millwood (Hixson, Tenn.) improved to 12-2 on the season after being credited with the win on the mound.
For the Lady Railsplitters, Legge hit two home runs but fell to 2-1 on the year after being tagged with the loss.
Box Score
Game Two ? Lenoir-Rhyne 6, Lincoln Memorial 3
L-R junior shortstop Kat Rivers (Royston, Ga.) finished with three hits and three runs batted in to go along with her team-leading 15th home run of the season to lead the Bears to the sweep.
The Bears opened the scoring with three runs in the bottom of the second inning thanks to an RBI single from senior outfielder Brittany Cherry (Myrtle Beach, S.C.) and a sacrifice fly from Rivers.
Rivers pushed L-R?s advantage to 5-0 with a two-run home run in the fourth inning before sophomore first baseman Brittany Davidson?s (Fort Defiance, Va.) run-scoring single in the sixth made it 6-0.? Davidson also finished with three hits in the contest.
The Lady Railsplitters tried to rally in the top of the seventh inning by scoring three runs with two outs to cut the advantage in half at 6-3 but Bear freshman Alex Smith (Cocoa, Fla.) forced a groundout with the bases loaded to end the contest.
Lincoln Memorial?s Heather Baker (Broadway, Va.) had an RBI single in the inning.
Smith (12-3) picked up the win while the Lady Railsplitters? Meghan LaFevor (Columbia, Tenn.) fell to 12-3 with the setback.
Box Score
Lenoir-Rhyne hosts UNC Pembroke in a doubleheader on Sunday beginning at 1 p.m., while Lincoln Memorial returns home to host Tusculum on Tuesday in a doubleheader starting at 5 p.m.
