HARTSVILLE, S.C. -- Ashlea Hunter (Woodruff, S.C.) hit a late home run, but it was not enough for the fifth-seeded Lady Railsplitters (23-27) to overcome a three-run deficit in a 3-1 loss to the fourth-seeded Carson-Newman Eagles (30-19) in the opening game of the 2016 South Atlantic Conference Softball Championship on Thursday evening in Hartsville, South Carolina.
 
Lincoln Memorial outhit its in-state rivals 7-6, but squandered a number of early scoring opportunities, finishing 2 for 11 with runners on base and 1 for 5 with runners in scoring position in the contest, while the Eagles took the lead for good in the bottom of the fourth when Katie Pritchett connected on a two-run home run over the wall in left field.
 
Becca Burchette (Gas City, Ind.) led the Lady Railsplitters at the plate by going 2 for 3 while recording the team's lone extra-base hit of the game with a two-out double in the top of the sixth. Meredith Johnson (Kenly, N.C.) and Lindsay Cecil (Winston-Salem, N.C.) added two singles apiece, while Hunter finished 1 for 3 with a home run.
 
Senior Samantha Smith (Knoxville, Tenn.) was saddled with the loss despite allowing just six hits and three earned runs over six innings of work, striking out one and walking another over that span to fall to 11-10 on the season.
 
Carson-Newman right-hander Allison Webster chucked her second shutout at the Lady Railsplitters' expense this season, surrendering just one earned run with five strikeouts and two walks in the complete-game performance. Webster, who moved to 20-11 on the season with the victory, also threw a complete-game shutout against Lincoln Memorial back on April 13 at Dorothy Neely Field.
 
The Lady Railsplitters put at least one runner on base in each of their first four plate appearances, while putting a runner in scoring position in both the second and fourth frames, but were unable to cash in on any of those scoring chances.
 
Johnson and Smith drew walks in the top of the second inning to give Lincoln Memorial runners at first and second with two outs. However, a fielder's choice ended that threat and kept the game scoreless. The Lady Railsplitters' best chance to take the lead came in the fourth, though, when Johnson and Burchette singled to put runners at second and third with one out. Lincoln Memorial left that inning empty-handed as well, as a pop out and a strikeout brought the Eagles to bat in the bottom of the fourth with the game knotted at 0-0.
 
Up until that point, Smith had kept Carson-Newman completely in check, allowing just two baserunners and one hit through the first three innings. But Elayna Siebert led off the fourth with a single to set the stage for Pritchett, who hit the first pitch she saw out of the park to catapult the Eagles in front 2-0.
 
The Lady Railsplitters then went down in 1-2-3 order in the top of the fifth, while the Eagles added to their lead in the home half of that inning on an RBI single from Siebert.
 
Another scoring chance eluded Lincoln Memorial in the top of the sixth. With Johnson sitting on first base after notching her second single of the game, Burchette ripped a two-out double off of the wall in left field. Head coach Natalie Layden took a chance and sent Johnson home on the play, but she was cut down at the plate thanks to a perfect relay throw to keep the Lady Railsplitters off the board once again.
 
Hunter provided a little bit of hope for the Lady Railsplitters in the bottom of the seventh, when she hit a two-out, opposite-field home run - her second of the season - to close the gap to 3-1. However, Cecil grounded out in the next at-bat to end the game.
 
Carson-Newman, which advances to the winner's bracket to face top-seeded Lenoir-Rhyne at 12:30 on Friday, was led offensively by Siebert, who finished 2 for 3 in the game with an RBI.
 
The Lady Railsplitters will look to avoid elimination at 12:30 p.m. on Friday, when they face the eight-seeded Anderson Trojans. The winner of that contest moves on to face the loser of the Catawba-Queens game at 3 p.m. Live stat and video links are available at www.LMURailsplitters.com.