Softball Wins Regular Season Finale Against Johnson

KNOXVILLE, Tenn.- Weather forced two changes to the schedule of the softball team. The team was forced to change their Appalachian Athletic Conference (AAC) doubleheader against the Johnson University Lady Royals to Wednesday and to move the home games to the field of the opponents. Even though the games were played away, Tennessee Wesleyan picked up the sweep as the home team.

Game One:

Trailing by one run, Bailee Phillips put the game into a 1-1 tie in the fourth inning. The hitter hit a ball that flew over the outfield wall to put the team on the board. Johnson broke the tie in the fifth and added a run to their score in the sixth inning. In the bottom of the sixth, the Lady Bulldogs got one of the runs back.

Macy Chastain opened the sixth with a single. A double by Courtney Sneed gave Chastain the time to score, making the score 3-2 after six innings. In the seventh inning, TWU recorded a walk-off win.

A single by Kaley Bradley put the tying run on base. Hallie DeArman hit a sacrifice bunt to move Bradley to second while a bunt single by Carlynn Atamaniuk put runners on the corners. After a stolen base by Atamaniuk, a fielder's choice forced Bradley out at home but left Chastain on first. Atamaniuk became the tying run, scoring on a Sneed RBI single. Standing on third after the single, Chastain became the game-ending run on a wild pitch, giving the Lady Buldogs the 4-3 win.

Sneed led the offense with two RBIs.

Game Two:

Tennessee Wesleyan took control of the game in the second inning. With the bases loaded by Tatum Massengale, Courtney Wilson, and Atamaniuk, Chastain hit a single up the middle to move everyone up a base and tie the game 1-1. A wild pitch brought Wilson in from third and advance the remaining runners a base. Sneed kept the scoring going with a double and a RBI groundout by Phillips gave the team a 4-1 lead at the end of the inning with Chastain scoring.

A caught foul ball on Wilson's at-bat in the third inning resulted in a sacrifice fly as Taylor Penning scored after tagging up on third, moving the team's lead to 5-1. A two-run fourth inning helped Johnson cut into the lead. A run in the fifth gave the Lady Bulldogs get one of the runs back. Mackenzie Baldwin, who got on base with a double and moved to third on a Penning sacrifice bunt, scored on Massengale's sacrifice fly to move the team ahead 6-3. The team remained ahead through the final two innings.

Chastain, Wilson, Phillips, Sneed, and Massengale each had an RBI in the win. Isabella Jenkins and Phillips both had two strikeouts in the circle during the game.

TWU (23-10, 19-9 AAC) clinched the sixth seed in the upcoming AAC Tournament. The tournament is set to begin on Monday at the Brickyard Ball Fields in Kingsport, Tenn. The team will open the tournament against No. 3 seed Truett McConnell University at 5:00 p.m.