April 12, 2008

Lenoir-Rhyne Softball Sweeps Catawba, 5-3 And 7-1, To Clinch At Least A Share Of The SAC Regular Season Title

Bears win their third straight league title

Salisbury, N.C. – The No. 12 Lenoir-Rhyne College Softball Team (37-10, 12-2) clinched at least a share of the 2008 South Atlantic Conference Regular Season Championship with a doubleheader sweep of Catawba College (22-23, 4-10), 5-3 and 7-1, Saturday afternoon at Whitley Field in Salisbury, N.C.

L-R has now won three straight and four of the last five SAC Titles. 

The Bears are also the top-ranked team in this week's NCAA Division II South Atlantic Region Poll.

Game One – Lenoir-Rhyne 5, Catawba 3 (nine innings)
With the score tied at three in the top of the ninth inning, L-R sophomore outfielder Brittany Cherry (Myrtle Beach, S.C./Carolina Forest HS) hit a two-out, two-run double to lift the Bears to the win.

The contest moved to extra innings with the score tied at two and each squad scored a run in the eighth frame before Cherry’s game-winning hit in the ninth inning.

L-R senior Meredith O’Connor (Charlotte, N.C./Appalachian State Univ.) picked up the victory after allowing just two earned runs while striking out 10 batters.

Catawba’s Meghan Cobb (Richmond, Va.) suffered the loss despite giving up just two runs to go along with eight strikeouts.

Box Score

Game Two – Lenoir-Rhyne 7, Catawba 1
Bear senior centerfielder Taylor Queen (Conover, N.C./St. Stephens HS) hit a three-run home run in the third inning to give Lenoir-Rhyne a 4-0 advantage and senior catcher Karie Pushard (Harrisburg, N.C./Central Cabarrus HS) added a two-run double in the fourth inning to make it 6-0 as L-R cruised to the doubleheader sweep.

Catawba’s lone run was scored on a solo home run by Sam Vidal (Huntersville, N.C.) in the seventh inning.

O’Connor improved to 27-7 with the win as she allowed just one run while striking out four batters.

Rachel Christian (Buckingham, Va.) fell to 7-8 with the loss.

At the plate, the Bears were led by redshirt freshman shortstop Kat Rivers (Royston, Ga./Grayson County HS), who went four-for-four, and junior second baseman Noel Belk (Charlotte, N.C./Queens Univ.), who finished three-for-three with two runs scored.

Box Score

Lenoir-Rhyne, winners of 10 straight games, will host North Carolina Central Sunday at 1 p.m., in a doubleheader as the Bears will celebrate Senior Day.