GREENEVILLE, Tenn. – The Lady Railsplitters (18-13, 2-6 SAC) pounded the Tusculum Pioneers (19-15, 5-3 SAC) in five innings in the late game of Wednesday's South Atlantic Conference doubleheader to earn the split at Red Edmonds Field.
Tusculum outlasted Lincoln Memorial in a back-and-forth affair in game one, 6-5, but the Lady Railsplitters responded by piling up their most hits since March 11 to snap a four-game skid with a 12-1 run-rule victory.
Lincoln Memorial returns to Dorothy Neely Field on Thursday to face the No. 24 Limestone Saints in a nonconference doubleheader. First pitch in game one is set for 1 p.m.
Game One: Tusculum 6, Lincoln Memorial 5
Tusculum starter Taylor Plemons (10-7) limited the Lady Railsplitters to five hits and no earned run while striking out three in a complete-game performance to extend the Pioneers' winning streak to five.
Brianna Taylor made the start for Lincoln Memorial, and allowed six hits, five runs (three earned) and two walks while striking out two before being relieved by
Kelsie Hocutt (0-1) after four innings of work. Hocutt was pegged with the loss after giving up two hits and an unearned run over the final two frames.
The Lady Railsplitters committed three errors in the contest that led to three unearned runs for the Pioneers.
The top four batters in the Lady Railsplitters' lineup –
Dakotah Fraley,
Jennifer Moose,
Ty-Kella Goins and Hocutt – each finished with a hit apiece, while each of those four either scored a run or drove one in.
Ashlea Hunter was the only other LMU player with a hit.
Sammie West led the Tusculum attack by going 2-for-3 with two RBI, two runs scored and a walk.
The Pioneers took the early lead after West led off with a triple in the bottom of the first and scored on a failed pickoff attempt, but the Lady Railsplitters manufactured three runs on just one hit in the top of the second.
BriAnna Schrimpf was hit by a pitch, while
Allie Jones reached on a throwing error that put pinch runner
Savannah Daniel on third.
Jacie Pittman brought the tying run home with a bunt and reached safely on the play. A single back up the middle gave the Lady Railsplitters a 2-1 lead, while Fraley's sac fly made it 3-1.
Tusculum pulled within one in the third, as Bailey Culler and Emily Hester walked in back-to-back at-bats before Taylor Johnson singled back up the middle.
The Pioneers then took the lead with a three-run flurry in the bottom of the fourth. Morgan Mahaffey sparked the rally with a one-out double before an infield error put runners on the corners. West laced a double into the gap in left center to drive in a pair of runs, and later scored on Hester's RBI single to make it a 5-3 game.
The back-and-forth nature of the game continued in the fifth frame. In the top of the inning, a fielding error and a single from Moose put two runners on for the Lady Railsplitters. Goins and Hocutt tied the game with back-to-back RBI singles before a strikeout and a fly out left the potential go-ahead run stranded.
Tusculum regained the lead in the home half of that inning, as Rachel Wisner singled and scored courtesy of a muffed throw at first base – Lincoln Memorial's third error of the game.
A streak that began with one out in the fifth, Plemons retired the last eight batters she faced to preserve the 6-5 victory.
Game Two: Lincoln Memorial 12, Tusculum 1 (Five innings)
The Lady Railsplitters' 14-hit barrage – one short of matching the season-high mark – was powered by Pittman and Jones. Pittman went 3-for-4 with an RBI, a double and two runs scored, while Jones also went 3-for-4 with an RBI and a run.
Teddi Collins went 2-for-3 and matched a career-high mark with three RBI, while Hunter and Moose added two hits and two RBI apiece. Fraley went hitless, but drew two walks and scored a run.
Lincoln Memorial gave freshman right-hander
Justice Smith (8-6) plenty of run support, but she didn't need much. Smith allowed just one earned run and two hits while striking out five over five innings of work. The Rockmart, Georgia native did not surrender a hit until Johnson's one-out single in the bottom of the fourth.
The first six batters reached safely for the Lady Railsplitters in the top of the first inning, as Lincoln Memorial batted around to take an early 6-0 lead.
Fraley walked, Moose singled and Goins reached on a fielder's choice before a fielding error by third baseman Michelle Miller brought the first two runs across. Hunter followed that up with a two-run triple to make it 4-0. After that, Schrimpf was hit by a pitch and Jones singled to load the bases again. Collins singled in a run and Fraley drew a bases-loaded walk - her second of the inning - to complete the scoring.
Lincoln Memorial put up six runs again in the top of the fourth to bring the run rule into effect. Goins and Hunter walked before Schrimpf singled to loaded the bases with one out. Singles from Pittman and Jones tacked two more runs on the board before Collins doubled in two more. A two-run single by Moose capped the scoring and made it a 12-0 game.
The Pioneers scored their lone run of the contest in the bottom of the fifth, as Mahaffey walked and came around on West's two-out double.
Tusculum's Eliza Davis was unable to record an out in her short-lived start, giving up two hits and four earned runs in the top of the first. She was relieved by Cayla Cecil, who gave up nine hits and seven earned runs with three walks in 3.1 innings. Plemons pitched 1.2 innings of scoreless relief, but it was too late for the Pioneers.
The 12 runs were the most for the Lady Railsplitters since they tallied 19 in a five-inning win over USciences on March 11.
