DAHLONEGA, Ga. – The No. 5-seeded Lincoln Memorial University softball program (38-19, 15-9 SAC) opened the 2022 NCAA DII Southeast Super-Regional Thursday afternoon in the Peach State, dropping game one of the series against the Lady Nighthawks of North Georgia.
 
The Lady Railsplitters saw their six-game postseason winning-streak come to an end Thursday afternoon, as the red-hot Lady Nighthawks poured it on with their home field advantage, run-ruling Lincoln Memorial 9-1 in five innings of play.
 
The Nighthawks enter yet another super-regional in superb form, after clinching their eighth-successive Peach Belt Conference Tournament Championship, following that up with consecutive victories in the other half of the regional bracket over Carson-Newman, Lenoir-Rhyne and Wingate. UNG needs just one victory Friday to eliminate a fourth-straight South Atlantic Conference opponent to advance to nationals in Denver.
 
Head coach Ritchie Richardson's squad were competitive in one of the final regular season series at UNG a month ago, dropping a one-run and two-run contests. Thursday didn't provide a tightly-contested affair this time around, as the opening super-regional was all but put-to-bed after a seven spot for UNG in the game's second inning.
 
Junior ace Emma Frost, who is largely responsible for LMU's postseason run, fell victim to the downpour of the second, as the All-Southeast Region NFCA selection was forced out after just an inning-and-a-third. Frost falls to 24-9 in 2022.
 
Graduate Delilah Malczewski weathered the storm and pitched very well for a total of three innings, until the Nighthawks inevitably pushed across one final run to hit the up-eight, after-five mercy rule. Malczewski only conceded two earned-runs after UNG's second inning explosion.
 
The lone run of the afternoon for No. 5-seed LMU came via a double from DP, sophomore Katie Tuggle as the slugger smacked a drive to deep left-center, scoring graduate Emma Webb.
 
With the limited workload of ace Emma Frost, Friday's game two of the Southeast Super-Regional series could see the 24-game winner return to the circle for Lincoln Memorial. The Lady Railsplitters will have to win both game two and game three Friday to advance to next week's nationals in Denver.
 
UP NEXT…
The Lady Railsplitters will be back at it in game two of the 2022 NCAA DII Southeast Super-Regional Friday afternoon against No. 3-seed UNG in Dahlonega. 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.