Hickory, N.C. - The Lenoir-Rhyne Softball Team (42-11, 14-4) closed out the regular season with a dominating sweep of Lincoln Memorial (18-28, 6-11), 13-0 and 7-0, Saturday afternoon at Bears Field to win the 2012 South Atlantic Conference Championship on Senior Day.?

The Bears, ranked No. 19 in NCAA Division II, win their third consecutive league regular season title and eighth overall in school history.

Game One - Lenoir-Rhyne 13,
Lincoln Memorial 0 (five innings)
L-R exploded early with seven runs in the bottom of the second inning en route to a run-ruled victory over Lincoln Memorial in five innings.

Senior second baseman Carlee Carpenter (Newton, N.C.) and senior catcher Sarah Atkins (Newport News, Va.) both delivered two-run singles to highlight the frame.? Atkins finished with three hits and four RBI to lead the Bears.

Junior first baseman Jessica Fellmeth (Waxhaw, N.C.) and Atkins added home runs for the Bears in a four-run third inning.? Fellmeth now has a team-leading 12 round-trippers on the year.

Sophomore third baseman Haily Jarman (Wadesboro, N.C.) added four hits and three runs scored for Lenoir-Rhyne, who finished with 17 hits in the contest.?

Senior Dawon Millwood (Hixson, Tenn.) (28-6) threw her second no-hitter of the week for the Bears while the Lady Railsplitters' Meghan LaFevor (Columbia, Tenn.) suffered the loss.

Box Score

Game Two - Lenoir-Rhyne 7, Lincoln Memorial 0
L-R senior Lauren Harris (Yadkinville, N.C.) fired a one-hitter to lead the Bears to the sweep of the Lady Railsplitters.

Harris improved to 8-2 on the year after striking out six batters while LaFevor (9-15) suffered the loss again for Lincoln Memorial.

Lenoir-Rhyne opened the scoring with three runs in the bottom of the third inning with the Bears taking advantage of a pair of Lady Railsplitter errors.

L-R added two runs in each of the fourth and six innings, respectively, to make it a 7-0 final.

On offense, Jarman finished with four hits again while Fellmeth added two hits and two runs batted in to lead the Bears' 13-hit attack for the contest.

Box Score

Next up for Lenoir-Rhyne?is the 2012 Food Lion South Atlantic Conference Softball Tournament which begins next Thursday in Greeneville, Tenn., on the campus of Tusculum College.? The Bears, the two-time defending champions, will be the top seed in the tournament for the third straight year.

Lenoir-Rhyne will face eighth-seeded Mars Hill at Red Edmonds Field Thursday evening beginning at 6:00 p.m., in the last game of the quarterfinal round.