HARROGATE, Tenn. — It was another successful day at Dorothy Neely Field Saturday.
For the second consecutive afternoon, the Lincoln Memorial University softball team played a pair of games and won them both. This time it was versus the University of Virginia-Wise as the Lady Railsplitters came out on top in the opening, five-inning game, 10-2, before capping off the weekend with a gusty 4-1 victory.
Stout pitching powered LMU (14-4) to its fourth straight win as
Bailey Griffith (W, 6-2) captured game one behind five innings pitched, where she allowed two runs on four hits and struck out four. Then there was
Justice Smith (W, 5-0) with the hot hand in the second game. The junior tossed a complete-game gem, allowing one run on five hits while striking out a new-career high 11 batters, which was one better than her previous career best.
The Lady Railsplitters scored in every inning in the first game and ended it with a grand finale coming in the fifth frame.
McKenzie Henry (1-for-3, 2 RBI) got LMU on the board quickly, scoring
Sierra Hucklebee (single), and then
Kelsie Hocutt (1-for-2, walk) put one through.
The senior followed
Emma Webb's single with one of her own, plating Henry for the two-run opening frame. Hucklebee continued her impressive day, where she went 3-for-4 with three RBI and a home run, with her consecutive single to score
Bella Buccellato (1-for-3, RBI, 2 SB).
Grace Cochran (1-for-1, RBI, 2 BB) was responsible for the third-inning run with an RBI-single, scoring Hocutt for the four-run lead, and then Hucklebee took care of the fourth.
After the freshman assisted in turning a 4-6-3 double play to end the Cavs' threat, she sent a solo blast over the wall for her fourth homer of the year to force a pitching change. Before the top of the fifth, Griffith had only allowed one hit, but UVa-Wise (5-3) cut into her stat line. The Cavs scored two runs — via an RBI-triple and failed pick-off attempt at third base — to come within three and then that's when the Lady Railsplitters spotted five on reliever Sydney Collins, who replaced Raychel Lapalle (L, 1-2) following Hucklebee's bomb.
Allie Jones (2-for-3) hit the team's lone double before advancing on a passed ball and scoring on a wild pitch. The next four runs came via a Buccellato RBI-single, throwing error for
Ty-Kella Goins to reach safely and score Cochran, a Hucklebee RBI-groundout, and then a Henry sac fly to plate Goins for the 10th and final run for the run-rule victory.
The pitcher's duel in the second game behind Smith and Kailyn Spencer (L, 3-1) made for a competitive final seven innings. LMU broke the eggs on the scoreboard in the second frame behind an RBI-single from
Jacie Pittman (1-for-3, 2 RBI), which plated Webb (1-for-2, RBI).
LMU broke through in the fourth inning as
Allie Jones reached on an error and advanced to third; meanwhile,
Kelsie Hocutt (1-for-3, double) scored and then Pittman came through again, smacking an RBI-double to bring Jones home for the three-run lead.
The Lady Railsplitters used one of the Cavs' errors to their advantage after Hucklebee walked, stole for second and took third on the throw-down error. Webb pushed the freshman across with a sac bunt, which capped the four-run, four-hit second game.
UVa-Wise made things a little interesting in the top of the seventh as Casey Chambers smacked a solo home run and Spencer followed with a single, but Smith mowed down two more Cavs to secure her career-high 11 strikeouts and the Lady Railsplitter sweep.
Up Next
Since the Lady Railsplitter's original games at Lees-McRae were canceled for Sunday and postponed until March 17, LMU won't be back on the field until Tuesday at King for a 1 p.m. doubleheader.
