CENTRAL, S.C. – Southern Wesleyan softball season hangs in the balance after a pair of losses at the hands of No. 22 Brenau University on Friday evening.
The Golden Tigers took game one 7-3 before winning game two 10-1 in five innings. The Warriors finish the regular season with a 19-30 overall record and an 8-20 mark in their final year in the SSAC.
The Warriors will advance to the SSAC Tournament with a Brenau win over Coastal Georgia on Monday. SWU would hold the tiebreaker over Coastal, who both would be 8-20 and split four games this year, with the Warriors holding a 1-3 record over Brenau while the Mariners would be 0-4.
Game One
The Warriors fell behind 7-0 before finally getting on the board in the bottom of the sixth inning as Callie Wayne drove in Ashleigh Wilbur from second with a single. The Warriors added two more in the seventh as Savannah Carpenter and Lizzie Fela delivered RBI singles.
SWU had chances early on to get on the board but couldn't come up with big hits when they needed them. The Warriors left one on in the first after M.C. Garrett worked a one-out walk. In the second, already trailing 1-0, the Warriors put runners at first and third after a walk, sac bunt and an infield single. A strike out and a pop out ended the threat as Brenau's Jenny Shepherd escaped the jam.
The Warriors again left two on the third after a leadoff walk to Carpenter and a bunt base hit by Garrett. SWU left eight on base in the game while the Golden Tigers left 12 on base.
Shepherd worked the complete game to improve to 20-3 while Jenn Jacoby took the loss to finish the year at 7-13.
Game Two
Brenau jumped all over the Warriors in a do-or-die game for SWU. The Warriors needed to win to keep their season alive but the Golden Tigers scored four times in the first and three more in the second before the Warriors got on the board. Brenau added a three-run homer in the fourth to seal the win at 10-1.
Lizzie Fela led off the second with a double for the Warriors and scored one batter later on Ashleigh Wilbur's single to center. Those accounted for two of the three Warrior hits in the game. A two-out single by Allison Barbee in the third was the only other hit in the game for the Warriors.
Previously the tiebreaker information with Coastal Georgia that was given, gave the tiebreaker to the Mariners which led to the announcement that SWU's season was over and that they had no chance at the SSAC Tournament after Friday's two losses to Brenau.
