Top Four Seeds Advance Past Opening Weekend of SAC Softball Championship; Bears Host Championship Weekend

ROCK HILL, S.C. (theSAC.com) -- All four top seeds advance past opening weekend to move on to the SAC Tournament final which will take place on Thursday. Lenoir-Rhyne, the No. 1 seed, earned the right to host Championship weekend thanks to a 2-0 series sweep of Emory & Henry.

The Bears took down the Wasps in two pitchers' duels. The Bears won by finals of 1-0 and 2-1 in the three-game set. Madison Wilson outdueled Malorie Reeves in game one, tossing seven shutout innings with eight strikeouts and just two hits allowed. Faith Carrigan tossed a complete-game in the clincher, allowing one run on six hits with four strikeouts. At the dish, Carrigan hit a solo home run, as did teammate Lani Warren, to power LR to the next round.

Second-seeded Anderson survived a scare from Wingate to advance. The Bulldogs led 5-4 heading into the bottom of the 7th but SAC Player of the Year Carson Hobbs tied the game with an RBI double and the Trojans would walk it off as Lauren Brakovec doubled in the winner. Wingate took game two by a final of 8-3 behind Lily Huneycutt's complete game and her going 2-for-3 with 2 RBI and 2 runs scored at the plate. However, Anderson took game 3, 8-3. Kadence Barrick went 2-for-3 with 2 runs and 4 RBI and Hobbs homered. 

Carson-Newman swept past Catawba 2-1 and 14-6. In game two, Grace Gregory went 5-for-5 with five runs scored and four RBI and set a program record with four doubles, which also ties the NCAA record for most doubles in a game. She also tied the program's best mark with five runs scored and had the second-best single-game total in C-N history with 12 total bases. 

Lincoln Memorial swept past Mars Hill in the 4/5 matchup with a narrow game one win. The Lions trailed 7-4 heading into the top of the 7th but plated a pair of runs to pull within one. With two outs and runners on second and third, LMU's Katie Fultz got the final out for her third save of the season. It was all Railsplitters in game two with a 13-0 victory to clinch the series. Jasmine Kaylor allowed just one hit in the shutout. 

Championship schedule