The Lenoir-Rhyne Softball team defeated Catawba 11-5 before being eliminated by Lincoln Memorial 4-1 in the opening round of the SAC Tournament. Anna Blume, Kaylan Brown, Faith Carrigan, Talon LaClair, and Lauren Jackson all homered for the Bears on the day. LR will now await the NCAA selection show on Monday May 8th.

After Catawba scored with a solo homerun in the first, the Bears responded with three in the bottom half with RBIs from LaClair, Jackson and Lora Beth Wood. Catawba used the long ball against to retake the lead 4-3 in the Top of the 3rd. Wood responded with her second RBI to tie it at 4 in the bottom half.

LR then scored the next seven runs to take control of the game including four long balls as the Bears advance with a 11-5 win. Julia Mardigian had her 4th three-hit game of the season as Mardigian and Blume had multi-hit hits. Morgan Beeler moves to 22-4 with the complete game allowing five runs and striking out nine.

The story of game two was the Bears left eleven runners on base including the bases loaded twice. Bears were 0-4 with the bases loaded as the Railsplitters raced out to a 4-0 lead. Bears got their lone run with a Jackson solo home run in the 6th. Bears then loaded the bases with one out but a web gem by Sterre den Duijn kept the Bears off the score board.

Carrigan (1-2) made her first career start allowing four runs in the complete game. Carrigan added two hits at the plate as Carrigan was the only Bear to have multi-hits in the game.

LaClair’s nine game hitting streak ended in game two. Wall has reached base in 18 straight games. The Bears finished with 11 home runs on the weekend.

The first game was game 107 for the Bears all-time in the SAC Tournament and 21.4% of these games the Bears have faced Catawba. LR moved to 12-11 against Catawba but falls to 3-3 against Lincoln Memorial. With five home runs on the day, the Bears have hit 71 on the season and moved to second all-time.

Lincoln Memorial will move on to Wingate for a best of three championship series starting Wednesday.

The Bears will await the draw for the NCAA Southeast Regional Tournament.