Hartsville, S.C. – The No. 15 Lenoir-Rhyne Softball Team (46-10) split its two games on Saturday to advance to the finals of the 2016 South Atlantic Conference Championship at Byerly Park Field.
The Bears will face second-seeded Catawba (37-13) on Sunday at 1:00 p.m., and will need to beat the Indians twice.
Catawba 5,
Lenoir-Rhyne 2
The Indians snapped the top-seeded Bears' 10-game winning streak with a 5-2 triumph in a winner's bracket contest.
Catawba's Gina Gerone (Brooklyn, N.Y.) and Morgan Brann (Beulaville, N.C.) hit back-to-back home runs to lead off the top of the sixth inning to give the Indians the lead for good. Gerone and Caroline Turner (Kenly, N.C.) both drove in a pair of runs to lead Catawba into the championship game.
Lenoir-Rhyne scored a pair of unearned runs in the bottom of the fifth inning highlighted by a run-scoring single by sophomore pinch hitter Mackenzie Cates (Efland, N.C.).
Catawba's Carly Tysinger (Lexington, N.C.) improved to 30-8 on the year after limiting Lenoir-Rhyne to just two hits while striking out seven batters. Freshman Emily Kenley (Charlotte, N.C.) (9-3) took the setback for the Bears.
Box Score
Lenoir-Rhyne 9, Queens 1 (five innings)
The Bears scored three runs in each of the first, second and third frames to run-rule the Royals (25-27) and moved back into the championship game for a rematch with the Indians.
Junior first baseman Sydney Landreth (Disputanta, Va.) hit a two-run home run in the second inning while Cates added a two-run home run in the Bears' half of the third inning as the Bears stayed alive. Senior third baseman Jordin Phillips (Hampstead, N.C.) and sophomore shortstop Madison Carter (Bessemer City, N.C.) added two hits and two runs batted in each for the Bears, who totaled 12 hits in the contest.
Lenoir-Rhyne senior Brandi Hole (Sandy Ridge, N.C.) improved to 3-1 on the year after going all five innings and striking out three batters for the victory. Queens' Evie Scott (Eden, N.C.) fell to 9-8 after taking the loss.
Box Score
Lenoir-Rhyne Softball Advances To The 2016 South Atlantic Conference Championship Finals
Bears will face Catawba on Sunday afternoon at 1:00 p.m., the league tournament championship
Hartsville, S.C. – The No. 15 Lenoir-Rhyne Softball Team (46-10) split its two games on Saturday to advance to the finals of the 2016 South Atlantic Conference Championship at Byerly Park Field. The Bears will face second-seeded Catawba (37-13) on Sunday at 1:00 p.m., and will need to beat the Indians twice.
Catawba 5,
Lenoir-Rhyne 2
The Indians snapped the top-seeded Bears' 10-game winning streak with a 5-2 triumph in a winner's bracket contest.
Catawba's Gina Gerone (Brooklyn, N.Y.) and Morgan Brann (Beulaville, N.C.) hit back-to-back home runs to lead off the top of the sixth inning to give the Indians the lead for good. Gerone and Caroline Turner (Kenly, N.C.) both drove in a pair of runs to lead Catawba into the championship game.
Lenoir-Rhyne scored a pair of unearned runs in the bottom of the fifth inning highlighted by a run-scoring single by sophomore pinch hitter
Mackenzie Cates (Efland, N.C.).
Catawba's Carly Tysinger (Lexington, N.C.) improved to 30-8 on the year after limiting Lenoir-Rhyne to just two hits while striking out seven batters. Freshman
Emily Kenley (Charlotte, N.C.) (9-3) took the setback for the Bears.
Lenoir-Rhyne 9, Queens 1 (five innings)
The Bears scored three runs in each of the first, second and third frames to run-rule the Royals (25-27) and moved back into the championship game for a rematch with the Indians.
Junior first baseman
Sydney Landreth (Disputanta, Va.) hit a two-run home run in the second inning while Cates added a two-run home run in the Bears' half of the third inning as the Bears stayed alive.
Senior third baseman
Jordin Phillips (Hampstead, N.C.) and sophomore shortstop
Mackenzie Cates (Efland, N.C.) added two hits and two runs batted in each for the Bears, who totaled 12 hits in the contest.
Lenoir-Rhyne senior
Brandi Hole (Sandy Ridge, N.C.) improved to 3-1 on the year after going all five innings and striking out three batters for the victory. Queens' Evie Scott (Eden, N.C.) fell to 9-8 after taking the loss.
