WISE, Va. – The No. 12-ranked Lincoln Memorial University softball program (18-6, 1-1 SAC) opened-up South Atlantic Conference play Friday with an afternoon trip in Virginia, splitting a series with the Cavaliers. The doubleheader's opening matchup saw a pitchers' duel, followed by a run-explosion from the Lady Railsplitters in the second.
 
The Blue & Grey entered Friday's conference-opener with a nine-game winning-streak over the Cavaliers dating back to March 2018, as LMU fell just one game shy of a double-digit streak.
 
Game 1 – No. 12 Lincoln Memorial fall to UVA-Wise 2-1.
 
Junior Emma Frost entered the circle for her 13^th appearance of the season Friday afternoon, as the dominant righty only surrendered runs in the opening and closing innings of the day, putting together five scoreless frames through the second to the sixth. Nevertheless, Frost was nothing short of dominant overall on the afternoon, striking out 12 of the 25 Cavaliers that came to the plate on the day. The Morristown native only walked one through six and two-thirds, as UVA-Wise walked-off LMU in the bottom-of-the-seventh with a single through the right side.
 
The Lady Railsplitter bats were kept in-check at the hands of McKenna Falwell, the Cavalier starter who earned her tenth win on the season in Friday's opener. LMU only recorded three hits against Falwell, as freshman Shelby Blake tallied the lone RBI in the fifth.
 
Game 2 – No. 12 Lincoln Memorial def. UVA-Wise 6-3.
 
Friday's latter half of the doubleheader appeared to be going to plan for the Cavaliers yet again, as the matchup began very similar to the conference-opener for the Blue & Grey. On this occasion, UVA-Wise starter Alivia Nolley produced three scoreless innings, before the reigning SAC regular season champions woke up in the top-half of the fourth.
 
The Lady Railsplitters lead-off man, Shelby Blake again reached base for LMU, as Emma Webb got the run party going, singling to left to bring in Blake safely, making the contest 2-1, in favor of the Cavaliers. Just the following inning, a very productive afternoon continued for Blake, as the freshman again scored another run to tie-up the game, thanks to a Madison Henry infield single.
 
A decisive sixth inning proved to be the difference in the contest, as the nation's 12^th-ranked side pushed across two additional runs, off a Katie Tuggle double to left and a Bella Buccellato SAC-fly to right. The Cavaliers didn't go quite, as the conference-foe drew within one off a home run in the bottom-half of the sixth, but two more Emma Webb insurance RBI in the seventh sealed the opening SAC victory of the 2022 regular season campaign for the Lady Railsplitters.
 
Hayley Tamaro improved to 3-0 on the season in the second matchup of Friday's doubleheader, completing six innings with four strikeouts and three earned runs. Tusculum graduate transfer Delilah Malczewski came in for the close, sealing her first of the season in the bottom-of-the-seventh.
 
UP NEXT…
The No. 12 Lady Railsplitters return to Dorothy Neely next Wednesday, March 16 for the opening home South Atlantic Conference matchup against rival Tusculum. First pitch is scheduled for 1 p.m. EST.
 
Stay tuned to LMURailsplitters.com, as well as LMU's social media platforms —@LMURailsplitter on Twitter, @LMURailsplitters on Facebook and @lmurailsplitters on Instagram — for complete coverage of Lady Railsplitter softball through the 2022 season.