No. 4 Seed Softball Upsets No. 1 Seed Reinhardt to Advance in AAC Tournament
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | R | H | E | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Tennessee Wesleyan | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 6 | 0 |
|
Reinhardt | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 1 |
Kingsport, Tenn.- The softball team, the No. 4 seed in the Appalachian Athletic Conference Tournament, faced the No. 1 seed in the field on Thursday, the Reinhardt University Lady Eagles. The game featured some twists and turns you do not necessarily see a lot.
Similar to the first game, the Lady Bulldogs got off to a quick start in the first inning. In the top of the first inning, Destiny Painter became the first base runner of the game with a single. Moments later, Painter became one of the first runs of the game after Emily Mikkola blasted a ball over the left field fence, giving the team an early 2-0 lead after the first inning.
TWU added two more runs in the third inning. Mackenzie Baldwin opened the third with a double and moved to third on a sacrifice bunt by Caroline Moore. A fielding error on Painter's at-bat scored Baldwin and Painter ended up on third by the end of the play. Taylor Penning singled to bring Painter across home plate, giving the team a 4-0 lead.
The biggest twist of the game came when the game had to be stopped in the fourth inning due to rain. Tournament officials decided play would be unable to resume that day, pushing the game's conclusion to Friday.
The delay in play did not affect the outcome too much. While the Lady Bulldogs did not add a run to their score, the opponents only scored one run on Friday, giving Tennessee Wesleyan a 4-1 upset win over the top seed in the tournament.
Mikkola led the team with two RBIs while Painter and Penning each had an RBI. Cheyenne Strong pitched a complete game, striking out 12 batters.
The win moves the Lady Bulldogs (25-15) to the semifinals of the winner's bracket. The game, which was originally scheduled for Friday afternoon before all the rain issues on Thursday, had been moved to Friday at 3:00 p.m. Weather struck again though, causing a shift in the schedule, and moving the game to Saturday at 3:00 p.m. The team does know their opponent will be the No. 3 seed, Brenau University.