HICKORY, N.C. - The Lenoir-Rhyne Softball team dropped the first game of this weekend's SAC Championship Series 3-1 to No. 4 seed Lincoln Memorial.
Kaylan Brown hit her 5th home run of the season for Lenoir-Rhyne's lone run.
The Bears will now play the loser of Anderson and Carson-Newman at 1:00 PM tomorrow. Lenoir-Rhyne will now have to win four straight games to win their third straight SAC Tournament Championship.
INSIDE THE MATCHUP:
Final: (4) Lincoln Memorial 3, (1) Lenoir-Rhyne 2
Records: Lincoln Memorial (23-22) Lenoir-Rhyne (39-12)
Location: Hickory, N.C. | McCrorie Family Stadium
STORY OF GAME:
- Lincoln Memorial on the board first with a solo home run from Jordann Reagan in the 4th.
- Lenoir-Rhyne responded with a solo home run of their own as Kaylan Brown went deep to tie it in the bottom of the 5th.
- LMU re-took the lead back with a sacrifice fly in the 6th inning after taking advantage of a few miscues from the Bears defense.
- The Railsplitters added a key insurance run in the top of the 7th after getting three hits with two outs.
- The Bears had the tying run at the plate in the bottom of the 7th but Brooke Strickland got a line out to end it.
STATS OF GAME:
- Madison Wilson (19-5) threw the complete game in the circle, allowing three runs (two earned) while striking out six.
- Brown was the only Bear with multiple hits, going 2-for-3 in the contest.
- Lincoln Memorial out hit the Bears 8-6.
- Autumn Joyce added her 9th double of the year in the first inning.
BEYOND THE BOX SCORE:
- In 2024 the Bears dropped the first game of the Championship Series before winning four games in a row to capture the title.
- LR is now 4-4 against LMU all time in the SAC Tournament.
- Brown's average is up .364 after her 17th multi-hit game of the season.
UP NEXT: Bears will now play the loser of Anderson and Carson-Newman at 1:00 PM tomorrow. Should the Bears win that game, they would come right back at 3:30 and face the loser of the 10:30 game.
