SALISBURY, N.C. — It has all come down to this. The final regular-season South Atlantic Conference doubleheader is here, and the Lincoln Memorial University softball team is in position to finish higher than it ever has in SAC play.
Due to rain, the Lady Railsplitters had to wait two extra days to find out their SAC fate as they head to Catawba in a two-way tie for second place, along aside Queens, and are just one loss away from top-seeded Newberry. It was a three-way tie for second place, but after Coker and Anderson were able to get their games in Saturday, it resulted in a Cobra sweep in which pushed the Trojans down to fifth place and left the No. 2 spot open for the Lady Railsplitters and Royals.
LMU (32-12, 10-8 SAC) will have to take care of business versus the Indians (22-19, 9-9) while needing some help, specifically from archrival Carson-Newman, who hosts Newberry, for a chance to be crowned the regular-season SAC champions after being picked eighth in the preseason SAC rankings.
Even if LMU doesn't end up in first place and finishes second or third, it'll still be the highest finish in program history. A fourth-place finish would be the second time, dating back to the Lady Railsplitters' first year in the SAC in 2008. In the event LMU does come out on top, it'd the softball program's first ever as would a SAC Tournament championship, which begins Friday, April 26, at Whitley Softball Field in Salisbury, N.C.
The Basics
Monday, April 22 at Catawba — Noon & 2 p.m.
Live Stats (
Game One /
Game Two)
Quick Hits
-It's hard to believe the regular-season finale is here, but it's been a year to remember under second-year head coach
Ritchie Richardson. The Hall of Fame coach has taken a core of returning players mixed, paired with a highly-touted freshman class, and put LMU softball on the map for its first 30-win season since 2013. From winning 12 straight to rise into the national poll to being regionally ranked for the first time ever on both accounts, the Lady Railsplitters have made a name for themselves as they sit at No. 2 in the Southeast Region heading into Catawba.
-LMU has used its conference-leading offense all year long to make all of these feats possible.
Ty-Kella Goins' conference-leading 20 doubles, which is also tied for first nationally in Division II play, has paced the Lady Railsplitters to be the first-place team in doubles (102) and extra-base hits (146). With six more doubles, she'd tie Brittney Walker (2007) and her single season most 26.
-Freshman
McKenzie Henry has been right behind the seasoned junior, coming in at second in the SAC with 51 RBI and third with her 12 home runs. Those feats have her tied for ninth in an LMU single season for home runs, and four away from the record, while she's six from the RBI single-season record 57.
-Second on the team in RBI is senior
Kelsie Hocutt (35), while
Sierra Hucklebee (32) is next to pace the conference's second-best RBI team with 263 on the year. In the circle,
Justice Smith (9-2) has had her best year in the Blue and Gray, leading the way for freshmen
Bailey Griffith (12-7) and
Faith Howe (11-3) as the junior as a team-high 63 strikeouts in 99.2 innings for a team-low 3.58 ERA.
Know the Opponent
-Before getting swept by Newberry Wednesday, the Indians were a part of a four-way tie for first place with the LMU, Anderson and the Wolves. Now, Catawba sits tied with Carson-Newman in the No. 6 hole ahead of the SAC Tournament this upcoming weekend.
-In the event the C-N and Catawba end tied, the Indians would have the tiebreaker after defeating the Eagles on their home field in sweep fashion. Catawba also swept Tusculum to start SAC play, and then lost series' to Queens and Lenoir-Rhyne sandwiched around those doubleheader wins. The other SAC sweep was versus Coker, while the Indians split with Anderson, Wingate and Mars Hill before getting bested by Newberry to fall into sixth place.
-In all 41 games played, Jordan Dean has a team-high .360 batting average and .640 slugging percentage, along with 49 hits, 34 RBI, 14 doubles and eight home runs. She is also perfect on the bases (6-for-6), while Sydney Goertzen is 7 of 8 to lead the conference's seventh-ranked stolen bases with 35. On the other hand, the Indians have been caught seven times that is fourth in the SAC.
-Like LMU, Catawba has turned to a trio for a bulk of its innings this season. Preston Ellenberg (6-4) has thrown 95.2 innings, Brooke Walser (6-6) has tossed a team-high 98.0, while Madison Hunter (9-7) has 55.1 and three saves. Ellenberg's 81 strikeouts and 3.15 ERA paces the group.
Head-to-Head
-Salisbury, N.C. hasn't been a friendly place to the Lady Railsplitters as they are 3-7 there and 12-15 overall versus the Indians. LMU has gone 2-1 in the last three games, but before that, the Lady Railsplitters lost five straight.
-Two of LMU's three wins at Catawba came in 2015, when the Lady Railsplitters swept the Indians, 4-1 and 1-0. A reoccurrence of that memory couldn't come at a better time than Monday with LMU's hopes of being crowned SAC regular-season champions still a possibility.
