Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 HARTSVILLE, S.C. – The Lady Railsplitters (9-3) lost to Pfeiffer before bouncing back to defeat Lander on the final day of the Coker Spring Tournament on Sunday at Byerly Park.
 
Lincoln Memorial couldn't capitalize on a myriad of scoring opportunities in a 5-3 loss to Pfeiffer in Sunday's opener, but Dakotah Fraley (Walkersville, Md.) and BriAnna Schrimpf (Chandler, Ariz.) came up clutch with a pair of home runs in the bottom of the fifth in a 6-3 win over Lander in the finale. With wins in nine of its first 12 games, the Lady Railsplitters are off to their best start since the 2014 team started 11-2.
 
The Railsplitters are back in action on Wednesday when they make the quick trip to Bristol, Tenn. to face the King Tornado for a doubleheader beginning at 2 p.m.
 
Game One: Pfeiffer 5, Lincoln Memorial 3
 
The Falcons steadily built a 5-0 lead and withstood a late rally to snap the Lady Railsplitters' four-game winning streak and extend their own winning streak to 10 games.
 
Three Pfeiffer pitchers – Sydney Poole, Kennedy Lester and Caitlin Christian – kept Lincoln Memorial's red-hot offense in check for 6.1 innings, as the Lady Railsplitters started 1-for-15 with runners on base before finally breaking through in the bottom of the seventh and bringing the tying run to the plate. Christian was credited with the win after allowing just one hit and striking out eight over four scattered innings of work.
 
The Lady Railsplitters accounted for eight hits and drew five walks in the contest, but left 10 runners stranded on base and squandered multiple run-scoring chances.
 
Schrimpf went 2-for-3 with a double and an RBI, while Ty-Kella Goins (Ramseur, N.C.) added two singles and a walk. Kelsie Hocutt (Wendell, N.C.) doubled in a run on her only hit of the ballgame, while Fraley reached in three of her four plate appearances with three walks.
 
Junior righty Brianna Taylor (Ooltewah, Tenn.) was pegged with the loss, falling to 4-2 on the season after allowing seven hits and three earned runs with three walks over four innings of work. Hocutt took over with a runner on second and no outs in the top of the fifth and finished the game by giving up just three hits and one earned run with a pair of strikeouts.
 
Five-hole hitter Kiana Millsaps led Pfeiffer's 10-hit day by going 3-for-4 with a double and two RBI. Leadoff hitter Vada Blue Sherrill went 2-for-5 with a run scored and a stolen base, while Abi Peck and Emma Tuttle had an RBI apiece.
 
The Lady Railsplitters had a golden opportunity to take an early lead in the bottom of the second, when Schrimpf doubled and Goins singled to put runners on the corners with no outs. However, a groundout, a pop out and a strikeout ended the threat.
 
The Falcons loaded the bases with no outs in the top of the third inning on a single from Sherrill, a double by Stephanie Fortner and a walk to Rachel Crowder, but Taylor limited the damage to just one run. Millsaps accounted for that run with a single before Taylor wiggled out of the jam with a groundout and a fly out.
 
Pfeiffer pushed its lead to 3-0 in the top of the fifth, as Makenzie Pennell led off with a solo home run before Millsaps doubled and scored on a single from Peck.
 
Lincoln Memorial gave itself another chance to get on the board in the bottom of that inning and loaded the bases with one out. Ashlea Hunter (Woodruff, S.C.) singled, Fraley walked and Jennifer Moose (Statesville, N.C.) reached on an error to put the pieces in place. However, a strikeout and a groundout quieted that rally as well.
 
The Falcons added a run in the sixth and seventh innings to extend their lead to 5-0, while the Lady Railsplitters squandered another opportunity in the home half of the sixth after putting their first two runners on base. Lincoln Memorial finally came to life in the bottom of the seventh, but it was too little, too late.
 
Moose and Allie Jones (Ooltewah, Tenn.) singled to put two runners on for Hocutt, who delivered a double to left field. Moose scored on the initial hit, while a throwing error allowed Jones to score and advanced Hocutt to third. Schrimpf drove in Hocutt on a sacrifice fly out to trim the deficit to 5-3. Goins singled in the next at-bat to bring the potential tying run to the plate, but a fly out to right field halted the Lady Railsplitters' comeback bid.
 
Game Two: Lincoln Memorial 6, Lander 3
 
The Lady Railsplitters were trailing after four and a half innings, but Fraley connected on a three-run home run in the bottom of the fifth to put Lincoln Memorial ahead for good, and Schrimpf followed with a two-run blast four batters later to add some insurance.
 
Fraley finished 2-for-3 in the contest to push her team-best batting average to .474 and increase her team-leading hit total to 18. She also extended her team-high home run total to three.
 
Along with Fraley, Goins went 2-for-3 to record her sixth consecutive multi-hit game, while Hunter went 2-for-3 with two runs scored. In her first at-bat since February 17, Meredith Johnson (Kenly, N.C.) singled and drove in a run, while Schrimpf hit her second homer of the season and recorded her ninth and 10th RBI.
 
Lander's first four hitters – Destiny Clyde, Makenzie Smith, Brianna Surrento and Madison Moore – combined to go 8-for-13 with three runs scored and three RBI, while the rest of the Bearcats' batting order went 2-for-15 with four strikeouts and eight runners left on base.
 
Freshman Justice Smith (Rockmart, Ga.) started in the circle for the Lady Railsplitters and was on the hook for the loss after allowing six hits and two earned runs with five strikeouts over four innings of work. However, she ended up with the no-decision after Lincoln Memorial rallied to take the lead. Taylor picked up the win after throwing three innings of four-hit, one-run relief, improving to 5-2 with the victory.
 
The Bearcats struck first on a two-out solo home run from Surrento in the top of the first inning and added to their lead in the third frame on a two-out RBI single by Moore.
 
The Lady Railsplitters cut the deficit in half in the bottom of the third as Hunter singled and scored on Johnson's pinch-hit, two-out single to center field.
 
Taylor allowed a pair of singles in the top of the fifth, but worked out of that jam to keep the Lady Railsplitters within striking distance.
 
In the home half of that frame, Lincoln Memorial came to life offensively, as Teddi Collins (Germantown, Ohio) and Hunter led off with singles to set the stage for Fraley's three-run home run. Fraley nearly didn't get that opportunity, as a dropped foul ball by the Bearcats catcher extended her at-bat.
 
After a pop out and a fly out, Hocutt kept the inning alive with a single back up the middle, and Schrimpf took advantage of that with a two-run dinger to make it a 6-2 lead in favor of the Lady Railsplitters.
 
Clyde and Smith singled to lead off the top of the seventh for Lander, but the Bearcats would muster just one run on a sacrifice fly out from Moore.
 
McKenzi Ferguson suffered the loss for Lander after allowing all 10 hits and all three runs over five innings of work. She struck out three and didn't issue a walk to fall to 3-5.