All Spring Championship Recaps

Wingate 3, Lenoir-Rhyne 0 (Championship Game 2)

Wingate 8, Lenoir-Rhyne 1 (Championship Game 1)

Lenoir-Rhyne 1, Wingate 0 (8 inn.)

Wingate 5, Newberry 3

Newberry 1, Tusculum 0

Wingate 3, Lenoir-Rhyne 0 Box Score
Wingate 8, Lenoir-Rhyne 1 Box Score
SALISBURY, NC -- Wingate came out of the loser's bracket to claim the championship of the 2006 Food Lion South Atlantic Conference Softball Tournament, defeating top-seeded Lenoir-Rhyne 8-1 and 3-0 on Sunday afternoon at Whitley Field. The 25th-ranked Bulldogs, seeded second, improve to 45-9 and earns the league's automatic bid into NCAA II regional play. Lenoir-Rhyne, ranked 16th in NCAA II, falls to 49-10-1 and will wait on an at-large berth into the regionals.

Wingate got an outstanding pitching effort from Ashley Green (Charleston, SC) as the sophomore hurled her third straight game and fourth of the afternoon, limiting the Bears to just three hits. She walked one and struck out four in the final game shutout. Green improved to 25-6 on the year.

The Bulldogs were held hitless until the sixth inning when Joy Henry (Virginia Beach, VA) broke up a perfect game with an infield single. An error on the ensuing sacrifice bunt put runners on first and third and a grounder by Heather Winchester (Waxhaw, NC) brought home the first run as Henry beat the throw to the plate. The Bulldogs added two more unearned runs when Grace Cunningham's (Camden, SC) fly ball was mishandled.

Casey Hanes (Richmond, VA) was the loser for Lenoir-Rhyne. She fell to 27-7 after allowing just the one infield single with no walks and 10 strikeouts. The best scoring opportunity for the Bears came in the sixth inning as Kim Crowley (Pembroke Pines, FL) drew a leadoff walk and Karie Pushard (Harrisburg, NC) moved her to second with a two-out hit. Green got Angela Beard (Hickory, NC) on a popup to second to end the inning.

Cunningham sparked the Bulldogs to the second championship game as she connected on three homeruns and accounted for four RBI in the earlier 8-1 win. Wingate hit seven homers in the contest, one shy of the NCAA II record of eight set by California, PA, in 2004. Mandi Chester (Charlotte, NC) hit a pair of solo homers, while Sarah Carleton (Powhatan, VA) and Winchester also had solo shots.

Winchester hit the first four-bagger in the second, while Cunningham added a solo shot in the fourth for a 2-0 advantage. The Bulldogs hit three consecutive homers in the fifth as Cunningham, Carleton and Chester each hit solo shots to go up 5-1. Green tossed six innings to earn the win, allowing seven hits with three strikeouts. Chrissy Lunsford (Tyrone, GA) accounted for the lone Bear run with a homerun in the fourth.

Lenoir-Rhyne 1, Wingate 0 (8 inn.) Box Score
SALISBURY, NC -- Lenoir-Rhyne's Taylor Queen (Conover, NC) hit a solo homerun with one out in the bottom of the eighth inning to send the top-seeded Bears to the championship game of the 2006 Food Lion South Atlantic Conference Softball Tournament with a 1-0 win over #2-seed Wingate on Sunday morning at Whitley Field. Lenoir-Rhyne, ranked 16th in NCAA II, improves to 49-8-1, while the 25th-ranked Bulldogs fall to 42-9 and will face the winner of the Newberry-Tusculum contest in an elimination game for a chance to make the title game.

Queen's homer was only the second hit for Lenoir-Rhyne as both Wingate hurler Ashley Green (Charleston, SC) and Bear pitcher Casey Hanes (Richmond, VA) tossed no-hitters through six innings. The game had been suspended after an inning on Saturday.

Lenoir-Rhyne had four baserunners through six innings, all via walks, but threatened in the fourth as both Chrissy Lundford (Tyrone, GA) and Leah Krohn (Taylorsville, NC) drew two-out passes and moved up on a wild pitch. Green struck out Kim Crowley (Pembrobe Pines, FL) to end the inning.

Hallie Pettigrew (Uniontown, OH), who had drawn a walk in the first inning on Saturday, got the first hit of the day as she led off the Wingate seventh with a bunt single. She moved to third on a pair of outs, but Hanes retired Mandi Chester (Charlotte, NC) on a groundout to keep the game scoreless.

Lunsford doubled to lead of the Lenoir-Rhyne seventh, but after being sacrificed to third, but Green retired Crowley and Hanes on infield pop-ups to end the inning. Joy Henry (Virginia Beach, VA) picked up an infield single for Wingate with one out in the eighth, but could not advance and Queen ended the contest on her ninth homer of the year with on a 0-1 pitch with one out in the eighth.

Hanes improved to 27-6 with her two-hit shutout. She walked one and struck out five. Green fell to 22- 6, allowing a run on two hits with four walks and five strikeouts.

Wingate 5, Newberry 3 Box Score
SALISBURY, NC -- Wingate rallied from an early 3-0 deficit to defeat Newberry 5-3 in the loser's bracket final of the 2006 Food Lion South Atlantic Conference Softball Tournament on Sunday afternoon at Whitley Field. Second-seeded Wingate, ranked 25th in NCAA II, improves to 43-9 and advances to face Lenoir- Rhyne in the championship. Newberry, the sixth-seed, falls to 22-34-1.

Newberry scored three times in the first inning without a hit as Wingate starter Lauren Powell (Midlothian, VA) issued four walks before being lifted with one out in the opening frame. Jessica Jackson (Batesburg, SC) and Ashley Anderson (Barnwell, SC) walked to open the game and after a sacrifice, Christina Kirby (Delmar, DE) reached on a fielder's choice to load the bases. Kat Hammond (Irmo, SC) and Betsy Shealy (Leesville, SC) then drew walks to force home a pair of runs.

Ashley Green (Charleston, SC) relieved Powell and Newberry got a final run on a groundout by Amy Jarrell (Dover, DE). Wingate got a run back in the second on a RBI double by Joy Henry (Virginia Beach, VA) and tied the score on a two-run homerun by Grace Cunningham (Camden, SC) in the third.

Green shut down the Lady Indians on just one hit with no walks and a pair of strikeouts. The only blemish in a perfect six and two-thirds innings of work was a one-out single by Kirby in the sixth. The Bulldogs took the lead in the fourth as Henry doubled to lead off the inning and scored on a single by Heather Winchester (Waxhaw, NC). The final run came in the fifth when Courtney Wagner (Myrtle Beach, SC) was hit by a pitch with the bases full.

Newberry 1, Tusculum 0 Box Score
SALISBURY, NC -- Newberry's Courtney Lindler (Irmo, SC) drove home the winning run with two outs in the top of the fifth as the Lady Indians earned a 1-0 win over Tusculum in an elimination game of the 2006 Food Lion South Atlantic Conference Softball Tournament on Sunday morning at Whitley Field. Newberry, now 22-33-1, advances to face 25th-ranked Wingate in the loser bracket final for a spot in the championship game against top-seed and 16th-ranked Lenoir-Rhyne. Tusculum, the eighth-seed, falls to 18-32-2.

The team's battled through four scoreless innings before sixth-seeded Newberry got the only run of the game. Ashley Marine (Peachtree City, GA) singled with one out and Ashley Anderson (Barnwell, SC) was hit by a pitch. A grounder by Jessica Jackson (Batesburg, SC) forced Marine at third for the second out. Lindler hit was seemed to be a three-run homer, but Jackson was called out for missing third base giving Lindler credit for a double and one RBI.

Christina Kirby (Delmar, DE) made the single run hold up as she held the Pioneers to just three hits in improving to 13-15 with the shutout. She walked three and fanned seven. Tusculum had loaded the bases on a hit and two walks in the first inning, but Kirby got out of trouble with a strikeout and fly out.

Tusculum also had a runner at second in the third, but a looping liner to left was turned into a double play by Lindler at short. Tusculum managed just a two-out single in the fourth and a leadoff walk in the fifth the rest of the way. Lindler had two of the four Lady Indians hits, while Nicole Ringwall (Rose Hill, KS) had two hits for Tusculum. Megan Dubois (Chino, CA) took the loss despite allowing just a run on four hits with no walks and eight strikeouts.