HARROGATE, Tenn. -- Senior Emilee Solomon (Knoxville, Tenn.) and sophomore Jennifer Moose (Statesville, N.C.) provided walk-off hits to culminate one of the most thrilling days at Dorothy Neely Field in recent memory and lead the Lady Railsplitters (22-20, 11-9 SAC) to a sweep of the Mars Hill Lions (12-21, 8-12 SAC) in South Atlantic Conference softball action on Friday afternoon.
 
Some clutch infield defense and a gritty pitching performance from right-hander Samantha Smith (Knoxville, Tenn.) kept the ship afloat until Solomon broke through for an RBI single in the bottom of the 10th frame to pace a 2-1 win in game one. The Lady Railsplitters trailed 6-1 at one point in game two before rallying all the way back to win it 7-6 on Moose's single in the bottom of the seventh.
 
Lincoln Memorial continued its red-hot stretch, improving to 10-2 in the last 12 games, and secured a spot in the upcoming SAC tournament in the process.  
 
Game One: Lincoln Memorial 2, Mars Hill 1 (10 innings)
 
The Lady Railsplitters had an opportunity to seize control early, but left five runners stranded on base in the first two innings. LMU led off the first with singles from Solomon and Kelly Dreier (Knoxville, Tenn.), but failed to cash in after Amanda Snow (Knoxville, Tenn.) flew out, Solomon was called out for leaving second base early on the tag and Meredith Johnson (Kenly, N.C.) bounced out.
 
Megan Tice (Orlando, Fla.) singled, Ashlea Hunter (Woodruff, S.C.) doubled and Savannah Couch (Colonial Heights, Va.) walked to load the bases in the second stanza, but a strikeout kept the Lady Railsplitters quiet once again.
 
Lincoln Memorial finally cashed in a run in the third inning as Dreier drew a leadoff walk, stole second and advanced to third on a wild pitch to get into scoring position for Johnson, who plated her with a sac fly.
 
Smith worked around a one-out single in the top of the fourth to keep the Lions scoreless, but was unable to do so in the fifth as Patricia Thompson doubled and later scored on a base knock by Aleshia Peek to even the game at 1-1.
 
Solomon put the Lady Railsplitters in position to retake the lead in both the home half of the fifth and the seventh stanzas. Solomon led off the fifth with a single and advanced all the way to third with a steal and a wild pitch. A pop out ended that threat, though. Solomon ripped a double into the gap in left-center with one out in the seventh, but a groundout and a pop out sent the game into extra innings.
 
While LMU's offense continued to falter in run-scoring situations in extras, its defense stole the show, keeping the Lions off the board with a string of timely stops. With the potential winning run on third and two outs in the eighth, Peek poked a slow roller into the 4-3 hole, where Dreier swallowed it up with a sliding snag to put Peek away. With two gone in the next inning, a grounder by Erin Vickery sent Dreier ranging to the second base side, where she made a clean backhanded grab and threw a strike to first to end the inning and leave the lead-taking run stranded at second.
 
The Lady Railsplitters showcased more heads up defense in the top of the 10th as Tice fielded a grounder at third and caught Melissa Garcia in a rundown to strike down the lead runner. Smith then corralled a grounder back up the middle in the ensuing at-bat and turned a 1-6-3 double play.
 
After leaving the winning run in scoring position in both the eighth and ninth innings, the Lady Railsplitters broke through in the 10th frame. Couch successfully bunted Hunter into scoring position for Solomon, who capped her 4-for-5 showing at the plate by ripping the game-winning single over the left fielder's head.
 
The Lady Railsplitters left nine runners stranded on base and went 1-for-14 in run-scoring chances. Smith made that a moot point, though, with a dominant performance on the rubber, tossing all 10 innings with only six hits allowed over that span. The Knoxville, Tenn. product struck out two and walked one, forcing the Lions to leave five runners stranded over the course of the contest.
 
Solomon posted her second four-hit game of the season to account for half of the Lady Railsplitters' eight hits. Hunter went 2-for-4 with a run scored.
 
Chelsea Broughman was on the hook for the loss despite a stellar outing for the Lions, allowing just one unearned run and three hits in 5 1/3 innings of relief. Vickery paced Mars Hill with two hits.
 
Game Two: Lincoln Memorial 7, Mars Hill 6
 
The second and third innings set the tone for what would prove to be an absolutely wild game.
 
Both the Lions and Lady Railsplitters went down in order in the first stanza, but Johnson staked Lincoln Memorial to a 1-0 lead with a leadoff home run in the bottom of the second. It marked Johnson's sixth homer of the season and her first since April 1.
 
The Lady Railsplitters' lead was short-lived as the Lions responded in a big way in the top of the third. Taylor Caviness struck out to begin the inning, but Mars Hill strung together six consecutive singles following that at-bat. Robyn Stanek's knock tied the contest at 1-1, while Vickery's base hit plated two more runs. After a pitching change, Ellen Tillman pushed the lead to 4-1 with another single. Jamie Booze and Taylor Hussey completed the six-run outburst with RBI in the back half of the frame.
 
Undaunted, Lincoln Memorial fired right back in the home half of the third. Solomon reached on an error by the Mars Hill shortstop, while Dreier singled through the left side in front of Snow, who blasted the 32nd home run of her career over the wall in left-center field to chop the deficit back to 6-4. The dinger, Snow's second in five days, put the Knoxville, Tenn. native into a tie with Sara Henn for the third-most homers in school history.
 
The Lady Railsplitters manufactured another scoring chance in the fifth and pulled to within one as Snow doubled and later scored on a sac fly from Moose, a connection that would rear its head in a pivotal moment in the game's final moments.
 
Smith fanned Garcia with Patricia Thompson sitting on third base to end the top of the sixth, while a brilliant defense play in the seventh prevented Mars Hill from extending their lead any further. Vickery singled before being subbed out for the speedy pinch runner Hollie Norris. Tillman then singled into right field and the throw from Teddi Collins (Germantown, Ohio) over the head over the cutoff man, provoking Tillman to try to take second on the play. Third baseman Tice cut down Tillman at second and Norris attempted to score on the throw, but Moose ripped a laser to Couch at home to end the inning.
 
The momentum from that play carried over into the bottom of the seventh as Solomon led off with a single and moved into scoring position on Dreier's sac bunt. Snow evened the game with a clutch double into the gap in right-center field. Johnson dropped a bloop single over the third baseman's head, but Snow was unable to score on the play. No matter, though, as Moose walked the Lady Railsplitters off by sending a 3-1 pitch back up the middle to score the game-winning run and bring the Dorothy Neely Field faithful to their feet.
 
The Lady Railsplitters did not leave a single runner stranded in scoring position, going 5-for-6 in those spots. Snow went 3-for-4 with four RBI and a run scored, while Johnson added three hits, an RBI and a run. Lincoln Memorial finished the contest with 11 hits.
 
Smith picked up her second win of the day and improved to 10-10 on the season with four scoreless innings of relief, allowing five hits with a strikeout over that span.
 
Tillman led Mars Hill with three hits, while Vickery went 2-for-4 with two RBI.
 
The regular season draws close on Saturday as the Lady Railsplitters cap an eight-game home stand by welcoming the Wingate Bulldogs to Dorothy Neely Field. First pitch in game one, which is set for 2 p.m., will be preceded by a Senior Day ceremony in honor of the program's five graduating players.