No. 6 Seed Softball Fends Off Elimination at AAC Tournament with Two Upset Wins

KINGSPORT, Tenn.- The softball team entered the day needing to win to stay alive in the Appalachian Athletic Conference (AAC) Tournament on Thursday. The team was successful, upsetting the top two seeds Bryan College (No. 2) and Reinhardt University (No. 1) in two close games. 

vs. Bryan

A pitcher's duel was broken up by the Lady Bulldogs in the third inning. Macy Chastain, Courtney Sneed, and Bailee Phillips all hit singles to load the bases in the top of the third. A sacrifice fly by Mackenzie Baldwin broke the goose eggs on the board as Chastain scored from third. After moving up a base on the sac fly, Sneed scored on a Tatum Massengale single to give the team a 2-0 lead after the third inning.

As Phillips took control of the pitching duel, who through four innings had pitched a perfect game, TWU added another run to their lead in the fifth inning. Like the third inning, the Lady Bulldogs loaded the bases, this time with Phillips, Baldwin, and Massengale. Phillips had to move from her spot on third after a Kaley Bradley walk forced all the runners to move, moving the lead to 3-0. 

In the sixth inning, Phillips added more runs to the scoreboard for the Tennessee Wesleyan. Chastain stood on second as Phillips belted a home run over the left-center field fence, pushing the lead to 5-0. Bryan broke the perfect game in the bottom of the sixth and scored a run, but the Lady Bulldogs did not let the opponents pull closer, beating the conference rival 5-1 to stay alive in the tournament. 

Phillips finished with six strikeouts in the circle and only allowed one hit. 

vs. Reinhardt

In the second elimination game of the day for TWU, another pitcher's duel took place and one run proved the difference. Phillips held Reinhardt scoreless while only allowing five hits and striking out four batters, and recorded the go-ahead RBI in the sixth inning.

Carlynn Atamaniuk started the sixth inning with a single and got to second on Chastain's sac bunt. After a caught fly ball at the last second put the second out on the board and stopped Atamaniuk from advancing, Phillips came to the plate and hit a single. Atamaniuk took advantage of the single, and scored the lone run of the game. 

As the players were getting ready to start the top of the seventh inning, a lightning delay went into effect. After the 30-minute delay, the team got the three outs needed to close out the game and stay alive in the tournament.

On the day, Phillips pitched 14 innings and allowed one unearned run on seven hits and two walks with 10 strikeouts. At the plate, she had a two-run home run in the win over Bryan and had the game-winning RBI in the victory over Reinhardt.

The Lady Bulldogs (25-11) will play for a trip to the championship game on Friday. The team will face No. 7 seed Brenau University at 11:00 a.m.