Area Sports Briefs: Catawba softball repeats as SAC tourney champ

Published 12:42 am Monday, May 2, 2016

From staff reports
Delane Smith’s infield single in the seventh on Sunday gave Catawba’s softball team a 2-1 walkoff win against Lenoir-Rhyne and the South Atlantic Conference Tournament championship.
It’s the second straight title for Catawba softball.
Catawba had two walks and a single by Taylor Adams to load the bases before Smith’s two-out hit.
Caroline Turner drove in a run in the second inning for a 1-0 Catawba lead. Top-seeded L-R tied the game in the sixth.
Carley Tysinger (31-9) held the top-seeded Bears to four hits. She struck out seven and walked one.
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Lenoir-Rhyne had forced a decisive second championship game in the double-elimination event by beating Catawba earlier on Sunday, 3-1.
Morgan Brann drove in the Catawba run. Tysinger struck out eight, allowed nine hits and walked one.
No. 2 seed Catawba (38-14) moves on to regional play. The Bears (47-11) will get an at-large bid.

Catawba baseball
Catawba’s top-seeded baseball team won twice in the South Atlantic Conference Tournament at Kodak, Tenn., on Sunday.
Catawba finished off a 9-8 win against Lincoln Memorial in the completion of a game that was suspended due to weather late Saturday after nine innings .
Will Albertson drove in the deciding run in the 10th inning.
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Next, Catawba won 4-2 against Carson-Newman.
Connor Johnson pitched seven strong innings for the Indians. D.J. Laxton pitched the eighth and got the win. Bryan Blanton pitched the ninth for a save.
Johnson, who struck out five and walked none, shut out the Eagles for six innings. Carson-Newman tied the game at 2-all in the seventh.
Jake Kimble had a two-run single for Catawba in the eighth to break the tie.
Kimble had three hits. Jeremy Simpson, Kyle Smith and Zac Almond had two hits. Almond homered.
Catawba, still unbeaten in the double-elimination event, advanced to today’s championship game at 1 p.m. A second championship game, if needed, will be played at 4 p.m.
Catawba’s opponent will be Tusculum or Carson-Newman. They were playing a late elimination game on Sunday night.

Conference Carolinas
Mount Olive won the tourney championship in Burlington on Sunday by beating Belmont Abbey, 8-6, and Pfeiffer, 10-5.

Intimidators win
Micker Adolfo belted a tie-breaking home run in the sixth inning, and Mother Nature earned the save as Kannapolis edged Columbia in a rain-shortened contest, 5-4, in 7 innings, on Sunday afternoon.

Local golf
Brad Martin made a hole-in-one at Warrior on Saturday.
He aced the 150-yard No. 6 hole from the blue tees with an 8-iron. Witnessing the shot were Carl Cruse and Terry Edwards.
McCanless
The McCanless Couples played a Captain’s Choice on Sunday.
The team of Azalee Story, Mary Seaford, David Huneycutt and Sunnie Wilson took first place.
Treva & Ricky Honeycutt, Tom Reyonlds and Lexie Miller placed second.
Story won closest to the pin.
Wilson won longest put