HARROGATE, Tenn. -- The Lady Railsplitters (8-15) opened Dorothy Neely Field by sweeping a doubleheader from the King Tornado (6-12) in NCAA Division II softball action on Wednesday evening. Lincoln Memorial - winners of four straight games - made quick work of the Tornado in a 4-1 win in game one before scoring six unanswered runs to complete the sweep with an 11-8 triumph in game two.
 
The Lady Railsplitters travel to Salem, Va. this weekend for the West Virginia Wesleyan Tournament, where they will play four games against opponents outside of the Southeast Region. Lincoln Memorial opens that event against Ohio Valley at 5 p.m. on Friday.
 
Game One: Lincoln Memorial 4, King 1
 
Sophomore right-hander Brianna Taylor (Ooltewah, Tenn.) stonewalled the Tornado over 6 1/3 innings, allowing just six hits with one unearned run and five strikeouts, while BriAnna Schrimpf (Chandler, Ariz.) buoyed the offense with three RBI, amassed on a double and a home run.
 
Schrimpf was one of three LMU players to finish with multiple hits in the contest, as Jennifer Moose (Statesville, N.C.) went 2-for-3 with a run scored and Ashlea Hunter (Woodruff, S.C.) also went 2-for-3 with an RBI. The Lady Railsplitters finished with 10 hits as a group, as every player that made an at-bat reached safely for the home team.
 
The first two frames passed in a flash, but the Lady Railsplitters checked into the scoring column and took the lead in their wire-to-wire victory in the bottom of the third. Lindsay Cecil (Winston-Salem, N.C.) led off that inning with a single and scored on Schrimpf's double that bounced off the base of the wall in left-center field.
 
Lincoln Memorial added a run in the bottom of the fourth, when Moose singled and scored on a two-out base knock by Hunter.
 
The Lady Railsplitters put the game out of reach in the bottom of the fifth inning, as Allie Jones (Ooltewah, Tenn.) doubled in front of Schrimpf, who cleared the bases with her third home run of the season and made it a 4-0 LMU lead.
 
A fielding error, a single and a walk loaded the bases for King with no outs in the top of the sixth stanza. A groundout by Hannah Smith drove a run in for the Tornado, but Taylor forced back-to-back groundouts after that to limit the damage to just that one run.
 
A walk followed by two singles helped King load the bases again in the top of the seventh, causing head coach Natalie Layden to call Samantha Smith (Knoxville, Tenn.) in from the bullpen. Smith quickly closed the door of the Tornado, eliciting an infield popup and a groundout to notch her second save of the season.
 
Hayley Smothers went all six innings in the circle for the Tornado, falling to 3-6 after allowing 10 hits and three earned runs. Hannah Devotie went 3-for-4 out of the lead-off spot to account for half of King's six hits.
 
Game Two: Lincoln Memorial 11, King 8
 
The Tornado stormed out to an 8-5 lead at the midway point of the game, but the Lady Railsplitters finished on a 6-0 run to tidy up the sweep.
 
The top four hitters in Lincoln Memorial's lineup combined for 10 of the home team's 12 hits. Savannah Couch (Colonial Heights, Va.) went 3-for-4 with three runs scored, while Jones also finished with three hits to go along with two runs and two RBI. Schrimpf went 2-for-4 with three more RBI, while Moose accounted for a pair of hits and two RBI.
 
The Lady Railsplitters used all four pitchers on the staff in the contest, but Taylor earned her second win of the day and improved to 5-6 on the season with 3 1/3 innings of relief work. The Ooltewah, Tenn. native didn't allow a run over that span and gave up just four hits with three strikeouts.
 
King drew first blood in the top of the first on an RBI single by Smith, but Schrimpf drove in a run with a single and Becca Burchette (Gas City, Ind.) plated another with a sacrifice fly out in the bottom of the first to put the Lady Railsplitters ahead 2-1 after one.
 
However, the Tornado batted around in the top of the third inning to take a commanding 6-2 lead. Alliyah Sands opened the scoring that inning with a two-run double, while Amber Walker and Kaycee Casteel each produced RBI singles.
 
The Lady Railsplitters clawed back within one in the home half of that inning on the wings of Schrimpf's RBI groundout, Moose's run-scoring double and Meredith Johnson's (Kenly, N.C.) sac fly. But King erased two of those runs in the fourth with a Morgan Lowe double and a Smothers single to carry an 8-5 advantage into the bottom of the fourth.
 
That's when the momentum shifted for good, as Lincoln Memorial scored four runs to take the lead in the bottom of the fourth and never looked back. Singles by Cecil and Couch sparked the rally, while Jones cut the deficit to 8-7 with a two-run double. Schrimpf then tied the game at eight apiece with a double into the gap in left center. Moose put the Lady Railsplitters ahead in the next at-bat with a single.
 
King put runners on the corners with two outs in the top of the sixth, but Taylor induced a fly out to end the threat and keep LMU ahead.
 
The Lady Railsplitters then added a pair of insurance run in the bottom of the sixth, as Johnson doubled home Burchette, who walked the batter before. Johnson then came around to score on an RBI groundout from Hunter.
 
A bloop single and a throwing error brought the potential tying run to the plate for King with no outs in the top of the seventh, but Diamond Callwood bounced into a double play and Olivia Lawson struck out swinging to end the game.
 
King racked up 16 hits in the contest, led by Smothers' 4-for-4 showing that included an RBI and a run scored. Sands went 3-for-4 with a pair of RBI. Morgan Lowe was pegged with the loss after giving up five hits and four earned runs in an inning of relief work.
 
With the sweep, Lincoln Memorial has now won 12 of the last 13 meetings against King and improves to 20-6 in the all-time series.