HICKORY, N.C. – The Lincoln Memorial softball team beat Lenoir-Rhyne 4-1 on Saturday afternoon at the South Atlantic Conference Tournament to advance to the championship series.
 
Sterre den Duijn hit a go-ahead 3-run homerun in the 5^th inning, while the pitching duo of Hayley Tamaro and Emma Frost shut down the Bears' offense to lead to Lincoln Memorial's 3^rd straight win. The Lady Railsplitters are set to play at No. 1 seed Wingate on Wednesday at 1 p.m. to begin the best-of-3 series to determine the tournament champion.
 
The Railsplitters, playing as the home team on Lenoir-Rhyne's home field, got on the board first on a McKenzie Henry sacrifice fly in the 1^st inning. Lincoln Memorial led the whole way, as den Duijn's homer put the Railsplitters up 4-0, and Lenoir-Rhyne scored its only run in the 6^th inning.
 
Tamaro allowed only 1 run in 5.0 innings of work to pick up the win (13-10), while Frost collected her initial save of the year with 2.0 shutout innings. Faith Carrigan surrendered 4 runs on 8 hits in 6.0 innings to suffer the loss (1-2). Madison Henry, Kelsie Tuggle and den Duijn had a pair of hits each to lead the Lincoln Memorial offense.
 
The Lady Railsplitters will be looking to secure their another SAC Tournament title when they make the trip to Wingate as the defending champions having won it in 2022.