Softball Claims SCAC Title

Softball Claims SCAC Title

IRVING, Texas - Southwestern defeated Trinity, 7-2 and 9-4, in back-to-back games to win the SCAC Softball Championship on Sunday afternoon.

The Pirates beat Centenary, 7-6, in the opening round of the SCAC Conference Championship.  They lost their second round game to Trinity, 9-2, which put them in the bottom half of the double elimination bracket.  From there, they went on to shutout Austin College 10-0 in a 5 inning game to setup a rematch with Trinity.

Southwestern jumped out to a great start in the first game of the day against Trinity.  Ashleigh Scott and Tessa Galloway hit back to back singles with one out in the bottom of the 1st.  Then Kayla Irvin drove both of them in with a double to center field to take the 2-0 lead.  Scott singled and scored again on a double by Galloway in the 3rd to go up 3-0.

Trinity got on the scoreboard in the top of the 4th inning.  Arms drew a one out walk and later scored on a double down the left field line by Russel .  The Tigers continued to close the gap in the 6th as Sanchez doubled and later scored on a RBI ground out by Dyk to cut it to a 3-2 game.

The Pirates offense flexed their muscle in the 6th by jacking two home runs.  Irvin hit a solo shot to left center to lead off the inning and Caroline Young hit a three-run bomb to seal the 7-2 victory for Southwestern and deal Trinity their first loss of the tournament.

Kelsey Kingston pitched well and earned the complete game win in game one.  She scattered 3 hits over 7 innings, gave up 2 runs, had 3 walks, and struck out 4 batters.

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In game two of the afternoon, it was Trinity that got on the scoreboard first.  Sanchez singled, advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt, and then scored on a single by Dyk to take the 1-0 lead.

The Pirates scored 2 runs in the 3rd to overtake the Tigers.  Karen Ramirez singled and later scored on a RBI single by Scott.  A batter later, Scott scored on a single to right center by Victoria Vasquez to go up 2-1.  Southwestern added to their lead in the 4thJessica Bryant led off with a solo blast down the left field line.  Linsay Biggers beat out an infield single with one out and later stole second base.  She scored on a single up the middle by Ramirez to put Southwestern up 4-1. 

In the bottom of the 4th, TU got a leadoff single from Hab.  She later scored on a RBI ground out by Merca to make it 4-2.

Ramirez crushed a 3-run homer to left center in the top of the 6th to give the Pirates a little more breathing room.  Rosengren hit a sacrifice fly for a RBI and Bryant hit a RBI double in the 7th to really put the pressure on Trinity. 

Down 9-2, the Tigers would need 7 runs in the 7th to try and extend the game.  TU scored twice in the inning, but it was not enough and the Pirates claimed the title.

The offense was led by Karen Ramirez (3-4, HR, 4 RBI, 2 R, SB) and Jessica Bryant (3-4, HR, 2B, 2 RBI, 1 R).  Kingston picked up her second complete game win of the day as the Pirates advance to 34-11 on the year.

This is the 2nd SCAC Championship for Southwestern Softball, with the first coming in 2010.  The team now waits for the upcoming NCAA Selection Show on May 6th, at 10am ET.