Day Two Action of the Food Lion SAC Softball Championship

Day Two Action of the Food Lion South Atlantic Conference Softball Championship has concluded from Red Edmonds Field on the campuses of Tusculum College and Chuckey-Doak High School in Greeneville. Top-seed Lenoir-Rhyne and No. 3 seed Anderson have advanced to Saturday's winner's bracket final, while No. 4 Carson-Newman and fifth-seeded and tournament host Tusculum are alive in the elimination bracket. Below are recaps of day two action:

Game 5: No. 6 Brevard 1, No. 7 Wingate 0 (Elimination Game)
(Box Score)

GREENEVILLE, Tenn. --- Kayla Clemens tossed a one-hitter to lead sixth-seeded Brevard to a 1-0 victory over No. 7 seed Wingate Friday morning at Chuckey-Doak Field in an elimination game of the Food Lion South Atlantic Conference Softball Championship.

With the victory, Brevard advances in the tournament and will face No. 5 Tusculum game in another elimination contest at 3:30 p.m. at Red Edmonds Field on the Tusculum campus. Wingate ends its season with a 26-23 record.

Clemens surrendered a two-out double to Wingate's Kelsey Maffucci in the top of the third inning and responded by retiring the next 13 batters to even her season record at 15-15. Clemens allowed a walk and posted three strikeouts.

The only run of the game came in the third inning when Emily Boykin led off with her 11th double of the season. Brittany Jones reached on a fielder's choice and Brittany Fowler legged out a infield hit to load the bases. Chelsi Mallory stepped up and took four-pitch walk to drive in the contest's only score.

Fowler accounted for half of Brevard's hit production with her two hits, including her fourth double of the year.

Wingate starter Miranda Paul took the loss for the Bulldogs as she went six innings, allowed four hits, one run, two walks and seven strikeouts.

Game 6: No. 4 Carson-Newman 10, No. 8 Mars Hill 4 (Elimination Game)
(Box Score)

GREENEVILLE, Tenn. - Carson-Newman's Mary Shealy homered twice, including a grand slam, and pitched four perfect innings to open the game, to lead C-N past Mars Hill, 10-4, in an elimination game in the 2012 Food Lion South Atlantic Conference Softball Tournament.

Carson-Newman advances to face Catawba at 6 p.m. at Red Edmonds Field on the Tusculum campus at 6 p.m. later on Friday.

Shealy was 2-for-3 with two home runs and a sacrifice fly to carry C-N. She finished the game with six RBIs and her fifth-inning grand slam built the C-N lead to 6-0 at the time. She also pitched a complete game to pick up her nation's best 32nd win.

Carson-Newman struck first in the top of the first, taking a 1-0 lead off a pair of Mars Hill errors.

C-N's Shelby Robertson singled to short and took second on a throwing error by shortstop Ashley McCurry. A throwing error on a ground ball by second baseman Shaundee Woosley moved Robertson to third. She would score on Shealy's fly out to give C-N a 1-0 lead.

A diving catch in left center on a Shealy line drive by Lions' centerfielder Stephanie McGrath kept the damage to a lone run.

The Lady Eagles extended their lead in the fourth as Shealy belted her sixth home run of the season. The solo shot cleared the fence in right center to make it 2-0 C-N. First baseman Cailtlyn Lance followed with a double to right-center and Sara Kelley added a single to right, but Lance was thrown out at home for the first out of the inning, keeping the lead at two.

Shealy helped herself in the fifth as C-N broke the game open behind her grand slam. The senior stroked her seventh home run of the season, and third in her last four at-bats dating back to Sunday, down the left field line off of Lions' reliever Taylor Morris to grow the lead 6-0.

Kelley added a two-run home run two batters later as C-N moved ahead 8-0. The sophomore belted a line drive to left for her team-high ninth home run of the season.

In the circle, Shealy retired the first 12 batters she faced to open the game. Mars Hill's Natalie Haithcox's solo home run to open the bottom of the fifth broke up the perfect-game bid. For the first team All-SAC selection, it is her 18th home run of the year, which leads the league.

Shealy issued a walk to Woosley to follow Haithcos'x home run, but retired the next three batters to end the threat.

C-N extended its lead to 10-1 in the top of the sixth on a two-run single by Bri Shoemake, scoring Robertson and Bethany Davis. Davis singled and Robertson reached on a fielding error by Woosley.
Mars Hill stayed alive in the sixth, scoring a pair of runs on an RBI single by Robyn Stanek and an RBI ground out from Woosley. The Lady Eagles pitched around Haithcox to load the bases ahead of Woosley's ground out.

The Lions added a run in the seventh on a triple by McCurry to right-center field and an RBI single from McGrath. Shealy walked the bases loaded with two following the single, but induced a Woosley ground out to end the game.

Mars Hill starter Taylor Hussey (LP, 8-9) went 6.2 in taking the loss for Mars Hill.

Shealy (WP, 32-21) allowed four runs, two earned, on five hits, all coming in the final three innings. She also walked three.

After Shealy's perfect start, Mars Hill had eight base runners in the final three innings.

Robertson was 2-for-4 and scored three times for C-N, while Kelley added two hits and two RBIs.

McGrath led the Mars Hill offense with a 2-for-4 day and a run scored.

Game 7: No. 3 Anderson 7, No. 2 Catawba 4
(Box Score)

GREENEVILLE, Tenn. --- A four-run second inning propelled Anderson University to a 7-4 victory over Catawba College in a winner's bracket game at the 2012 Food Lion South Atlantic Conference Softball Championship Friday morning at Tusculum College's Red Edmonds Field.

The third-seeded Trojans (37-11) advance to Saturday's winner's bracket final against top-seeded Lenoir-Rhyne. The second-seeded Indians (33-16) return tonight at 6:00 p.m. to play Carson-Newman.

Bri Cason and Charlotte Sieber delivered back-to-back two-run doubles during Anderson's second-inning outburst, and Amber Duncan (22-8) made the lead stand up despite allowing nine hits and five walks to Catawba.

Amanda Terry led Catawba at the plate, going 3-for-4 with a double, an RBI and a run scored. Sydney Hyder and Alli Justice each went 2-for-3 for the Indians, who brought the tying run to the plate in each of the last two innings but stranded nine runners in all.

The Trojans chased Indians starter Emily B. Huneycutt (14-7) from the circle in the second inning, and added a run in the fifth and two more in the sixth off reliever Brittany Murray.

Danielle Swygert drove home a run with a double in the fifth, with runs in the sixth coming when Rebecca Martin was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded and on a sacrifice fly by Abby Child.

Catawba pulled within 4-1 in the fourth on a sacrifice fly by Hyder, and cut the deficit to 5-3 in the fifth on an RBI double by Justice and a wild pitch. After Anderson went ahead 7-3 in the sixth, the Indians closed the scoring in the bottom of the frame on an RBI single by Terry.

Game 8: No. 1 Lenoir-Rhyne 8, No. 5 Tusculum 0 (5 innings)
(Box Score)

GREENEVILLE, Tenn. --- Top-seeded Lenoir-Rhyne University scored six runs in the bottom of the first inning and went on to an 8-0 victory over Tusculum College in winner's bracket action at the Food Lion South Atlantic Conference Softball Championship Friday afternoon at Red Edmonds Field.

The 21st-ranked Bears (44-11) will play third-seeded Anderson in the winners bracket final on Saturday at 1 p.m., while Tusculum (31-24) drops to the elimination bracket for a game against sixth-seeded Brevard at 3:30 p.m. Friday.

Jody Mizelle hit a leadoff home run and Megan Laxton added a three-run shot in the first inning for the Bears, who piled up 11 hits in the game. Mizelle finished 2-for-3 with a triple, a home run and two runs scored.

Dawon Millwood (30-6) allowed a leadoff single in the first inning to the Pioneers' Savannah Ewing, then retired the final 15 batters, including six on strikeouts, to lead the Bears to the win.

After Mizelle's home run off Tusculum starter Elizabeth Johnson (26-11) gave the Bears a quick 1-0 lead, Lenoir-Rhyne added four more hits and five more runs. A two-run single by Brittany Coursen extended the Bears' lead to 3-0, and Laxton capped the inning with her fifth home run of the year over the fence in left to give Lenoir-Rhyne a 6-0 edge.

The Bears added two more runs in the second as Mizelle led off with a triple and scored on a double by Carlee Carpenter. Sarah Atkins drove home Carpenter with a two-out double to give Lenoir-Rhyne an 8-0 lead.

Johnson worked two innings for the Pioneers, surrendering all eight runs on eight hits. Kaytlin Stroinski tossed two shutout innings of relief, giving up three hits and striking out four.

Game 10: No. 5 Tusculum 8, No. 6 Brevard 1 (Elimination Game)
(Box Score)

GREENEVILLE, Tenn. --- Ashley Burke went 2-for-3 with a double and a home run, while Elizabeth Johnson tossed a three-hitter as fifth-seeded Tusculum defeated No. 6 seed Brevard 8-1 in an elimination game of the Food Lion South Atlantic Conference Softball Championship at Red Edmonds Field.

The Pioneers (32-24) advance in the tournament and will face No. 4 seed Carson-Newman, on Saturday at 10:30 a.m. Brevard has its season end with a 24-24 overall record.

Tusculum recorded 11 hits on the afternoon led by Ashley Bagley's 3-for-4 performance, while Burke and Lindsey Umberger finished with two hits each.

Johnson tossed seven innings, allowed three hits, one unearned run with a pair of walks to improve to 27-12 on the season.

Tusculum jumped out to a four-run lead in the first inning as the Pioneers used three hits, two walks and BC error, highlighted by RBI singles by Umberger and Bagley.

TC added another run in the second inning when Kaytlin Stroinski reached on a two-out single and scored on Burke's ninth double of the season and a 5-0 Pioneer lead.

Brevard plated its run in the bottom of the third when Brittany Fowler singled to left field and a TC error allowed Brittany Jones the unearned run.

TC added more runs in the fifth and another in the sixth. In the fifth, Katie Brennan tripled to left center, her sixth of the season. She would score on Umberger's double down the left field line. Bagley capped the scoring in the frame with a RBI single and a 7-1 advantage. TC made it 8-1 in the sixth on Burke's solo blast, her second home run of the tournament and third of the season.

Brevard starter Alyssa Miller (9-9) suffered the loss, pitching the first inning where she allowed three hits, four runs and a pair of walks. Kayla Clemens pitched the final six frames for the Tornados, allowing eight hits, four runs with three strikeouts.

Game 11: No. 4 Carson-Newman 3, No. 2 Catawba 2 (Elimination Game)
(Box Score)

GREENEVILLE, Tenn. --- Caitlyn Lance hit a go-ahead two-run home run in the top of the sixth inning as Carson-Newman College rallied for a 3-2 victory over Catawba College in an elimination game at the Food Lion South Atlantic Conference Softball Championship Friday evening at Red Edmonds Field.

The fourth-seeded Eagles (33-21) advance to face fifth-seeded Tusculum in an elimination game Saturday beginning at 10:30 a.m. The Pioneers defeated the Eagles 5-1 in the opening game of the tournament Thursday morning. The second-seeded Indians were eliminated from the championship with a 33-17 record.

Catawba had runners on base in every inning against Carson-Newman starter Mary Shealy (33-17), who walked four in addition to allowing 10 hits, but stranded 11 runners on base including five in scoring position. Carson-Newman finished with six hits off Catawba starter Brittany Murray (16-10), including Lance's seventh home run of the season with one out in the sixth.

The Indians took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the second on an RBI single by Lauren Lewis, but the Eagles knotted the game at 1-1 in the fourth as Bri Shoemake led off with a single and came around to score on an RBI single by Sara Kelley. Catawba regained a 2-1 lead in the bottom of the fourth on Lewis' second RBI single of the game, but left the bases loaded.

In the sixth, Shoemake led off by drawing a walk and moved to second on a sacrifice by Shealy. Lance then slugged a 3-2 pitch from Murray over the fence in left to give the Eagles their first lead of the game at 3-2. Catawba put a runner at third base in each of the last two innings, but Shealy worked out of trouble both times to lock up the win.

Shoemake finished 2-for-2 with a walk and two runs scored for the Eagles, while four players had two hits apiece for the Indians. Tara Gibbs reached in three of her four trips for Catawba with two singles and a walk, and Amanda Terry went 2-for-4 with a double.

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