NEWBERRY, S.C. – Pulling out their third consecutive sweep in South Atlantic Conference competition on Saturday afternoon in the Palmetto State, the Lincoln Memorial University softball squad broke away from Newberry on two separate occasions to bring its winning streak up to six games.

Winner of 23 of their last 24 outings, the Lady Railsplitters (18-1, 7-1 SAC) used a two-run 5^th inning in the opener while then shutting out the Wolves the rest of the way to seize their third straight road victory by a 4-3 clip. Following that up with a three-run 7^th period in Game 2 that emphatically broke a low-scoring tie, LMU heads back to Harrogate next week off a 5-2 triumph in the second half of Saturday's doubleheader.
 
Game 1 – No. 6 Lincoln Memorial def. Newberry 4-3
 
Reaching the exact same final score as their most recent outing at Tusculum three days earlier, the Lady Railsplitters used a pair of home runs (one of which occurred on the very first at-bat) to help overcome a 10-7 disadvantage in the hits column. Both Ty-Kella Goins and Emma Webb would go 2-4 at the plate in the tight win, while Goins and senior catcher Audrey Petoskey were the two players to go deep, one of two times on the afternoon for the latter.

Quickly jumping ahead by a 2-0 margin thanks to the solo homer on the opening swing and a Madison Henry RBI-single to centerfield later in the 2^nd stanza, LMU stalled somewhat offensively from there, that is until Petoskey's eighth HR of 2021 in the 5^th put the blue and gray back out in front after falling behind 3-2.

The tandem of leftfielder Paige Meyer and pitcher Kasey Widmyer remained a nuisance for the Lady Railsplitters all throughout Game 1, combining for six hits in as many trips to the plate while McKenzie Barneycastle managed a 2-4 showing at bat herself. After falling behind by two, Hannah Towery provided a sacrifice fly ball to bring Meyer home in the bottom of the 3^rd, giving the Wolves (10-6, 3-5 SAC) some breathing room.

Yet another sac fly to score Widmyer came in the next frame courtesy of Vanessa Wilson, before Meyer's RBI single up the middle handed Newberry their first lead of the day.

That lead wouldn't stand for long, though. Petoskey's centerfield bomb scored both herself and junior McKenzie Henry, which proved to be all the scoring that the Lady Railsplitters needed to squeeze out their sixth one-run victory of the year.

Things nearly unraveled for LMU in the bottom of the sixth, as starting pitcher Bailey Griffith started to show flashes of fatigue after 29 batters faced. With only one out remaining as each base was occupied, sophomore Emma Frost was substituted in for relief, forcing a fly out to centerfield, leaving Newberry with all three runners stranded.

Striking out four batters in the close game, Griffith picked up her fifth win individually of the season in the circle, while Frost collected her third save of the year. On the other side, Widmyer's productive day at bat wouldn't translate to the win, throwing the entire contest while facing 36 batters.
 
Game 2 – No. 6 Lincoln Memorial def. Newberry 5-2
 
Partly assisted by some Newberry miscues down the stretch, the Lady Railsplitters powered in three unanswered scores in the final period of the closer, breaking a 2-2 stalemate to capture their third straight win over the Wolves dating back to 2019.

LMU's hitting efficiency never seemed to totally hit its stride in the second half of the DH, although Frost made sure it wouldn't come back to haunt the Lady Railsplitters in the end, retiring five batters while only giving up three hits to move to 8-1 personally.

Newberry's Haley Simonds put the Wolves out in front early, reaching on a fielder's choice to score Barneycastle in the bottom of the 1^st. LMU countered immediately in their next series with Petoskey's second dinger of the afternoon to left field, evening the score at one each.

Both sides would remain entangled until the top of the 5^th, when Goins rifled her second RBI of the weekend on a single to the left side, bringing senior Bella Buccellato around the diamond.

Seemingly on cruise control until the finish line, the Lady Railsplitters allowed one slip-up in the 6^th inning by virtue of an infield error on a fielder's choice scenario that accidentally scored Meyer. Quickly shaking off that blunder, LMU secured the game's final three runs to move to 18-1.

As Goins, junior Sami West, and pinch hitter Grace Cochran all manned one base each in the top of the 7^th, Madison Henry drew a walk from pitcher Alexandrea Sullivan to easily snatch the lead back out from under the Wolves. Two batters later, first baseman Emma Webb landed her fourth hit of the doubleheader on a centerfield single, scoring Cochran and Goins to account for the three-run victory.

Meyer, Barneycastle, and shortstop Tedi Nunn were the only three Newberry players to get by Frost for a hit, while Sullivan took the loss at the pitching spot by throwing all seven innings.

Going yard three more times in the sweep over the Wolves, the Lady Railsplitters have now recorded 16 homers on the season from six different players. Petoskey has now reached 15 home runs dating back to the 2020 campaign, while hitting 23 for her career.

Having won each of its last six South Atlantic Conference affairs, LMU sits in a tie for the top spot in the conference standings alongside Carson-Newman at 7-1.
 
Up Next
 
Enjoying the luxury of returning home for the next four games, LMU will prepare for another SAC two-parter on Wednesday from Dorothy Neely Field, battling Mars Hill at 1:00 and 3:00 p.m. The Lions have opened up the 2021 slate at 8-9 overall next to a 1-5 league resume. MHU travels to Bluefield State on Sunday afternoon for a pair of non-conference meetings before traveling to Harrogate, where Head Coach Ritchie Richardson's group has won its last 17 games.

The Lady Railsplitters have gotten the better of Mars Hill in each of their last three outings, most recently sweeping the Lions 10-1 and 11-4 last spring in what turned out to be the final SAC series of 2020 before the season was abruptly halted due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
 
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 2021 season.