DAHLONEGA, Ga. --- The seventh-seeded Tusculum University softball team split day two of the NCAA II Southeast Regional, defeating Lincoln Memorial in extra innings before being knocked out in a rematch with No. 11 North Georgia.
Tusculum (38-19) ends its season with its most wins since 1994.
Game 1: Tusculum 3, Lincoln Memorial 1 (8 innings)
Brooke Smith (3) and Abby Hunter (2) combined for five of TU's seven hits as Sammy Jimenez, Hunter, and Hailey Nichols drove in the Pioneers' runs. LMU left 12 runners on base.
Tusculum got the first run of the game in the second inning. Jimenez doubled to lead off and was bunted over by Hunter. Gabi Nicholson drew a walk to bring up Nichols. She laid down a squeeze bunt to send Jimenez home. Though initially called out, upon appeal, she was ruled safe on obstruction.
The Railsplitters were held scoreless until the bottom of the seventh. A leadoff walk moved all the way to third on a sacrifice bunt and a groundout. Down to its last strike, Lincoln Memorial doubled in a run to send the contest to extras.
With no international tiebreaker, the Pioneers had to score runs the old fashion way. Danielle Jason and Smith collected back-to-back singles with Ellie Alvarez dropping down a sacrifice bunt to advance her teammates. Jimenez grounded out, but Jason scored on the play. Hunter stepped up and singled back up the middle to plate Smith.
LMU could not muster up the offense to catch TU, with three flyouts and a walk in the bottom half of the eighth.
Megan Ackerman pitched six shutout innings, allowing four hits, seven walks, and struck out three. Natalie Spaitis (8-4) tossed the final two frames to earn the win, surrendering one run on one hit with two walks.
Game 2: No. 11 North Georgia 7, Tusculum 1
The Nighthawks got the best of the Pioneers for the second-straight day, ending Tusculum's season. UNG scored seven unanswered to advance to Saturday's bracket finale.
Smith and Alvarez notched consecutive singles and moved up an extra sixty feet on the play. Addison Hoffner came in clutch with a RBI groundout for TU's lone run.
North Georgia took the lead with a 2 RBI double in the bottom of the second. The Nighthawks tacked on two more runs in the fifth. UNG extended the advantage with a three-run homer in the bottom of the sixth.
Spaitis (8-5) pitched the first four frames to be tagged with the loss, allowing four runs (two earned) on five hits with one walk. Ackerman went 1.1 innings, surrendering three runs on four hits with a walk. Dani Beckham got the final two outs in the sixth in her regional debut.
The seven available seniors made one last appearance for the Pioneers: Danielle Jason, Gabi Nicholson, Alyssa Barbrick, Megan Ackerman, Madison Watts, Caylen Conrad, and Riley Hope. The remaining graduates Nyah Vogel and Makayla Bush made valuable contributions from the sidelines, assisting on the field, in the dugout, and the bullpen.
