Saturday Recaps of 2012 Food Lion SAC Softball Championship

Day three action of the 2012 Food Lion South Atlantic Conference Championship continues from Red Edmonds Field on the campus of Tusculum College. Three games on tap today with two elimination games and the winners' bracket final. Below are recaps of Saturday action:

Game 11: No. 4 Carson-Newman 9, No. 5 Tusculum 1 (6 innings - Elimination Game)
(Box Score)

GREENEVILLE, Tenn. --- Fourth-seeded Carson-Newman exploded for six runs in the fifth inning en route to a 9-1 win over No. 5 seed Tusculum in six innings, Saturday morning in an elimination game of the Food Lion South Atlantic Conference Softball Championship at Red Edmonds Field on the Tusculum campus.

With the victory, the Eagles (34-21) advance to the elimination bracket final against the loser of Saturday's winner's bracket final between No. 1 Lenoir-Rhyne and No. 3 Anderson. Tusculum is eliminated from the tournament to end its season at 32-25.

C-N broke up a 1-1 tie in the top of the fifth inning, with a six-run frame thanks to six hits, highlighted by Bri Shoemake's three-run, two-out double. Sara Kelley added a two-run double, while pitcher Mary Shealy posted a RBI single in the frame as the Eagles led 7-1.

Carson-Newman added two more runs in the sixth to provide the winning margin and stay alive in the tournament.

Carson-Newman got on the board first in the top of the fourth inning when Shealy connected on her ninth homer of the season and third of the tournament with her solo blast to left field.

TC answered in the bottom of the frame when Katie Gross reached on a one-out single, moved to second on a bunt and scored on a Katy Stuckwish triple to right field to tie the game at 1-1.

Shoemake led the Eagles with her 3-for-4 performance, including four RBI, while Kelley went 2-for-3 with a pair of doubles and two RBI. Shealy added two hits, with two runs scored and two RBI, while scattering five hits and allowing one run, with two walks and a strikeout to improve to 34-21 on the year.

Gross led TC offensively with her 2-for-3 performance at the plate.

Tusculum starter Elizabeth Johnson suffered the loss as she went 4 2/3 innings, allowing 10 hits, seven runs and a walk to fall to 27-13 on the season.

Game 12: No. 1 Lenoir-Rhyne 1, No. 3 Anderson 0 (Winners' Bracket Final)
(Box Score)

GREENEVILLE, Tenn. --- Dawon Millwood pitched a two-hit shutout, while Haily Jarman drove in the game's only run with a triple as top-seeded Lenoir-Rhyne defeated No. 3 seed Anderson 1-0 to advance to Sunday's championship game of the Food Lion South Atlantic Conference Softball Championship.

The eight-team, double elimination tournament is being held at Red Edmonds Field on the campus of Tusculum College.

The 21st-ranked Bears improve to 45-11 and will face the winner of Saturday's elimination bracket final between Anderson and No. 4 Carson-Newman.

The winners' bracket final was an outstanding pitchers' duel between Millwood and AU starter Amber Duncan.

Duncan limited the Bears to one hit and two walks through the first three innings, while Millwood retired the first 10 batters to start the game.

Both teams got runners aboard in the fourth inning. Anderson's Rebecca Martin reached on a one-out single, while advancing to second on a throwing error. But she would be stranded there following a pair of fly outs.

In the bottom of the fourth, L-R's Sarah Atkins and Brittany Coursen hit back-to-back, one-out singles, but Duncan got out of the jam with a pair of strikeouts to end the inning.

In the bottom of the fifth, L-R's Jody Mizelle reached on a bunt single and moved to second on a ground out. With two outs, Jarman tripled to centerfield to score Mizelle for a 1-0 lead.

Heading to the top of the seventh, Jansky reached on a L-R fielding error. On the game's final play, Duncan struck out swinging, but the ball got away from the AU catcher. But despite first base being occupied, Duncan ran towards first, causing pinch runner Kelly McInnes to start towards second and was picked off for the game's final out.

Millwood improves to 31-6 on the year as she allowed a walk with a pair of strikeouts. During this year's tournament, Millwood has allowed only one run in her 19 innings in the circle. Duncan (22-9) went six innings, allowed seven hits, one run, three walks and four strikeouts.

L-R's Brittany Coursen and Sealey each went 2-for-2 at the plate for the game.

Game 13: No. 3 Anderson 2, No. 4 Carson-Newman 0 (Consolation Bracket Final)
(Box Score)

GREENEVILLE, Tenn. --- Anderson University advanced to the Food Lion South Atlantic Conference Softball Championship game with a 2-0 victory over Carson-Newman College Saturday afternoon at Red Edmonds Field.

The third-seeded Trojans (38-12) will play top-seeded Lenoir-Rhyne University (45-11) Sunday at 1:00 p.m. for the conference title and an automatic bid to the NCAA Division II Tournament.

Amber Duncan threw a three-hitter to improve to 23-9 this season, and Rebecca Martin and Abby Child had RBI singles in the third inning to lift the Trojans past the fourth-seeded Eagles (34-22).

Duncan scattered three singles and walked a pair, but needed just 81 pitches to finish off the shutout. She faced her toughest test in the first inning, when Carson-Newman loaded the bases with one out. However, a popup and a line drive to right retired the side and kept the game scoreless.

Eagle starter Mary Shealy retired the first seven batters she faced before yielding a single to Bri Cason with one out in the top of the third. After a sacrifice bunt by Charlotte Sieber moved Cason to second, Jessica Neidigh walked on four pitches to put runners at first and second.

Martin then grounded a single up the middle to knock home Cason and give the Trojans a 1-0 lead. Child then followed with a hard grounder up the middle that caromed into center field for a hit, allowing Neidigh to come around and score and extend the Anderson lead to 2-0.

Duncan received help from her defense in the fourth, as Neidigh snared a liner at second and threw to Child covering short to double off a Carson-Newman runner to end the inning. The Eagles would not advance a runner past first base beyond that point, with Duncan closing out the game by retiring the side in order in the ninth on two fly balls and a grounder.

Shealy (34-22) allowed five hits and walked two and threw just 76 pitches in the game. At the plate, she singled and walked twice in three trips, with the other Eagle hits coming off the bats of Cassidy Skeen in the first and Bethany Davis in the fifth.

Anderson will be seeking its first-ever Food Lion South Atlantic Conference Softball Championship, while Lenoir-Rhyne is looking for its third straight title and sixth overall.

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