ROCK HILL, S.C.  – After a historic weekend winning the first SAC tournament crown in program-history, the South Atlantic Conference announced Tuesday afternoon that junior Emma Frost, senior Sierra Hucklebee, senior Kelsie Tuggle and graduate Emma Webb of the Lincoln Memorial softball program have been selected to the 2022 all-tournament team. Ace Emma Frost has also been announced as the SAC Championship Tournament MVP.
 
Completing a perfect 3-0 record on the weekend in Dorothy Neely, Frost followed up her historic 2022 campaign, guiding the Lady Railsplitters to their third SAC league championship honor and the program's first South Atlantic Conference Championship Tournament crown with victories over Queens, one-seed Anderson and in-state rival Carson-Newman. Finishing off her 22nd and 23rd complete-game victories in the quarterfinals and semifinals, Frost hurled consecutive affairs with seven strikeouts against the Royals and Trojans. Coming into a conference title game late on in a back-and-forth offensive explosion, the Morristown product again pitched the Lady Railsplitters to victory through two-and-a-third, sitting down four additional Eagle batters.
 
Frost was named to the second-team all-conference for her performances throughout the spring, in addition to setting the single-season program-record for strikeouts, that previously stood at 190. The junior ace currently sits at 218 entering NCAA Southeast Regional action.
 
Also named to the all-tournament squad was senior Sierra Hucklebee. The power-hitting shortstop drove in the championship game's two go-ahead runs in the bottom-of-the-sixth against Carson-Newman, batting 5-11 on the weekend and 3-4 in the conference tournament championship. Hucklebee had a vital RBI in the Anderson semifinal to keep LMU's hopes alive of advancing, igniting her clutch trait Saturday to drive in three additional runs that ultimately proved to be a step too far for the Lady Eagles.
 
Hucklebee has yet again produced a monster season from the plate, leading LMU in batting average (.372), home runs (10), total-bases (94) and slugging-percentage (.635).
 
Senior Kelsie Tuggle was the third member from Lincoln Memorial selected to the all-tournament team. Recording hits in each of the weekend's tournament games (2-4, Queens – 1-3, Anderson – 1-2, Carson-Newman) Tuggle batted .444 throughout the weekend, driving in two Lady Railsplitters base runners. Tuggle has been one of the most invaluable position players for Ritchie Richardson's squad, being just one of two players to start and play all 53 games in 2022.
 
Graduate first baseman Emma Webb was the final member of the Lincoln Memorial softball program named to the 2022 SAC Softball Championship All-Tournament Team. The RBI machine, who has led LMU this year in the department (47) sits just two away from all the all-time program record at 161. The graduate did what she did best in the championship game against Carson-Newman, cancelling the Eagles hot start in the first with an RBI single. Webb then followed it up with a SAC-fly in the game's fifth to put the then trailing LMU down by just one, sparking a comeback for the championship.
 
2022 SAC Softball Championship All-Tournament Team
Emma Frost, Lincoln Memorial (MVP)
Sierra Hucklebee, Lincoln Memorial
Kelsie Tuggle, Lincoln Memorial
Emma Webb, Lincoln Memorial
Leah Sohm, Carson-Newman
Morgen Baker-Celis, Carson-Newman
Macey Hughes, Carson-Newman
Emily Harris, Carson-Newman
Lauren Rakes, Lenoir-Rhyne
Morgan Charter, Anderson
Maddie Carpenter, Anderson
 
UP NEXT…
The 2022 South Atlantic Conference Tournament Champion Lady Railsplitters will await their selection and opponent for the NCAA DII Southeast Regional Championship.
 
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.