April 25, 2009
San Antonio, Texas - Sharp defense and two out rallies was the key to victory for Southwestern softball to stay alive at the SCAC Conference Tournament in San Antonio, Texas on Saturday morning. The Pirates defeated the Millsaps Majors 4-2 to move forward in the loser's bracket of the double elimination tournament.
Southwestern took advantage of batting first and scored on a RBI single to left field by 1B Kat Hoover that drove in LF Blair Wallace with two outs. DH Aly Pulver followed with a bloop single to left field that dropped just inside the foul line and scored P Kaitlyn Pavlicek and Hoover to go u
p 3-0.
After three solid defensive innings, the Pirates used another two out rally to extend their lead. 2B Quincy Meeker hit a double to left center field that was followed by a double from 3B Katelyn Gola that went just over a leaping Douglas at shortstop to bring in Meeker and push SU's lead to four, 4-0.
Millsaps threatened in the fifth, loading the bases with the first Millsaps' single of the day by Thidobeaux that was sandwiched between a pair of walks to Kremers and Tarbox with one out. Pavlicek struck Hewitt out swinging and got Nicholas to ground out to Hoover at first base to get out of the inning unscathed.
The Majors were determined to not go down without a fight and loaded the bases in the bottom of the seventh with two outs on three consecutive singles up the middle. A walk to Kremers followed by another single up the middle brought in two runs and cut SU's lead to two, 4-2. A pitching change brought in Lyndsy Maus who threw to Tarbox and got her to pop up to Bre Lewis in foul territory after two called strikes.
Wallace led the Pirates at the plate going 2-3 with one run scored while Pulver recorded two RBI's in the contest. Pavlicek earned the win while Lyndsy Maus received the save. Pavlicek allowed two runs on six hits while striking out five and walking six. Millsaps' McAllister garnered the loss.
With the win the Pirates advance to this afternoon's game at 4:00 pm against the winner of the Trinity and Rhodes.