Hickory, N.C. - The No. 9 Lenoir-Rhyne University Softball Team (44-6, 15-1) celebrated Senior Day with a South Atlantic Conference doubleheader sweep of Brevard College (17-26, 5-11), 5-4 and 5-3, Saturday afternoon at Bears Field.? L-R, the 2010 league regular season champions, also increased its winning streak to seven games.
Game One - Lenoir-Rhyne 5, Brevard 4
The Bears used a three-run third inning to overcome a 2-1 deficit and hold on for the victory.
In the frame, L-R tied the score at two on a run-scoring single by sophomore catcher Sarah Atkins (Newport News, Va.) before back-to-back, bases-loaded walks to freshman outfielder Megan Laxton (Taylorsville, N.C.) and junior third baseman Brandi Haithcock (Snow Camp, N.C.) gave the Bears the lead at 4-2.
Atkins (a team-high two runs batted in) added an RBI ground out in the fourth inning for the Bears' final run of the contest.
Brevard?tallied single runs in the fifth and seventh innings including a solo home run by Chelsi Mallory (Mechanicsville, Va.) in the last inning but came up one run short.
L-R sophomore Dawon Millwood (Hixson, Tenn.) improved to 19-3 on the season while sophomore second baseman?Carlee Carpenter (Newton, N.C.) added a solo home run in the bottom of the first inning for the Bears.
The Tornados' Martika Elmore (Fayetteville, N.C.), who hit a two-run home run in the third inning, fell to 13-14 on the year after being tagged with the loss.
Box Score?
Game Two - Lenoir-Rhyne 5, Brevard 3
Senior designated player Ashley Duckworth (Conover, N.C.) hit her South Atlantic Conference record 18th home run of the year while Atkins finished three-for-three with two runs batted in to lead L-R to the sweep.
Trailing 1-0, the Bears scored three times in the bottom of the first inning thanks to Atkins' RBI double and Duckworth's two-run home run.
Brevard tied the score at three on a two-run double by Nicole Heusel (Lawrenceville, Ga.) in the third inning before Atkins connected on the game-winning, run-scoring single in the bottom of the frame.
L-R sophomore first baseman Brittany Davidson (Fort Defiance, Va.) rounded out the scoring with an RBI single in the Bears' half of the fifth.
Freshman Alex Smith (Cocoa, Fla.) improved to 18-3 with the win while Liz Houser (Greenville, N.C.) (3-8) suffered the loss.
Box Score
Duckworth and outfielder Brittany Cherry (Myrtle Beach, S.C.) were honored as the two seniors on the squad prior to the second contest.
Lenoir-Rhyne will next compete in the 2010 Food Lion South Atlantic Conference Softball Tournament as the No. 1 seed, which begins on Thursday in Wingate, N.C.? Wingate University will serve as the host school.
