TIGERVILLE, S.C. – Limiting North Greenville to only three runs on seven hits over the course of two full games, the No. 13 Lincoln Memorial University softball team punished the Crusaders defensively in route to a non-conference sweep Monday afternoon.

Sliding past NGU in the opener by a 4-2 margin thanks to stellar play in the circle, the Lady Railsplitters (16-5, 2-2 SAC) continued that theme in the second meeting, halting North Greenville at every turn on their way to a 3-1 victory.

With a grueling 11-game road stretch now in the rearview mirror, Lincoln Memorial focuses on returning to Harrogate next weekend for the first time in nearly a full month, and will do so riding a five-game winning streak after sweeping SAC foe Mars Hill only 24 hours ago.
 
Game 1 – No. 13 Lincoln Memorial def. North Greenville 4-2
 
Sophomore pitcher Bailey Griffith did her part in the circle, throwing the entire ballgame to get the afternoon started after resting the previous day, grabbing her seventh win individually on four strikeouts next to only four hits.

The LMU batters also held their end of the bargain, with the trio of Grace Cochran, Sierra Hucklebee, and Kelsey Hoskins each going 2-3 at the plate for all four of the team's RBI, which was more than enough to bring down NGU (10-12, 0-0 Conference Carolinas) in their own backyard.

With Cochran already holding down second base in the top of the first, thanks to a walk and a steal, Hucklebee lined up an RBI-single to center field to put the Lady Railsplitters ahead 1-0. The Crusaders responded with a solo homer in the second frame to even things up, although the visitors outscored NGU 3-1 over the rest of the game to bring home the W.

In Cochran's next at-bat to kick off the third inning, the junior outfielder brought Hoskins around the bases for an RBI-single down the left field line. In a moment of déjà vu, Hucklebee again sent Cochran back to home plate with another RBI-single up the middle to give LMU a 3-1 cushion.

North Greenville scurried their last run in the bottom of the third with an unintentional blue and gray assist off a wild pitch. Lincoln Memorial would force the Crusaders into zeros across the board for the rest of the game, scoring one final dagger in the sixth period.

A single straight past the pitcher from Hoskins gave room for Tori Voiles to secure the team's last run of the game, outperforming the Crusaders in the hits department 7-4. The Lady Railsplitter defense proved to be even sharper in the teams' next outing moments later.
 
Game 2 – No. 13 Lincoln Memorial def. North Greenville 3-1
 
LMU's batting wasn't quite up to par for their usual standards, perhaps a bit gassed after torching Mars Hill the day before for 21 runs, although the sweep was obtained thanks to a phenomenal job on the other side of the field.

Stifling North Greenville into only three hits, with their first not coming until the bottom of the fifth inning, the Lady Railsplitters were led to the victory by a full-game pitching job by senior Justice Smith, who faced 24 batters, but would let only one get through the cracks for a run.

Picking up where she left off from the day before, Hucklebee put LMU on top to stay in the top of the fourth inning on a home run to left field, her sixth long-ball of the 2020 campaign, which ties catcher Audrey Petoskey for the highest output on the roster.

After producing five RBI on Sunday in the SAC sweep over Mars Hill, sophomore McKenzie Henry hauled in two more in the top of the fifth inning with a right field single, scoring both freshman Laken Phillips and senior Savannah Daniel.

The only NGU score of the second game was partially due to an LMU miscue on a wild pitch, although it wasn't near enough to combat Lincoln Memorial's locked-in defense for the rest of the contest.
Putting in seven more hits to better the Crusaders' total by a 14-7 margin, the Lady Railsplitters achieved their fourth and fifth consecutive wins after coming up on the losing end of their previous four.

While offense was the deciding factor in Sunday's sweep in the Tar Heel State, it was quite the opposite in LMU's fourth win in 48 hours in Tigerville.
 
Up Next
 
With the intent of playing at Dorothy Neely Field for the first time since February 16^th, Lincoln Memorial returns to South Atlantic Conference territory on Saturday for a Harrogate doubleheader with the Catawba Indians.

It's been a mixed bag in 2020 thus far for Catawba, who after sweeping Limestone in Gaffney, South Carolina over the weekend 3-2 and 2-1 in extra innings, holds a 10-12 record overall.

While the Indians have been inconsistent, Catawba is still in search of its first SAC victory, thus far standing at 0-4 after losses to Newberry and Wingate by a combined score of 19-5.

With a 14-15 record in the all-time series, the Lady Railsplitters have won three in a row over the Indians, including four out of the last five. After splitting the regular season meetings the year prior, LMU took down Catawba twice in 2019, winning 8-5 and 3-1 in Salisbury, N.C.

First pitch on Saturday afternoon is scheduled for a 1:00 p.m. start time, followed by a 3:00 start in the second half of the weekend two-parter.
 
How to Follow
 
Stay tuned to LMURailsplitters.com, as well as LMU's social media platforms —@LMURailsplitter on Twitter, @LMURailsplitters on Facebook and @lmurailsplitters on Instagram — for more LMU softball coverage across the 2020 season.