First Day of 2008 A-Sun Softball Championship Complete
Date Posted: 5/9/2008
DeLAND, Fla. - The first day of the 2008 A-Sun Softball Championship provided plenty of excitement, as each of the top-three seeds fell in their opening games for the first time under the current Championship format. Top-seeded Lipscomb bowed out of the tournament after two games, falling to No. 6 Gardner-Webb and No. 2 Stetson. The No. 5 Campbell Fighting Camels won their first two games for the first time since 1996 to lead the remaining five teams. No. 2 Stetson, No. 3 Mercer, No. 4 ETSU and No. 6 Gardner-Webb face elimination on Friday.
For live stats, box scores, photo galleries, recaps and post-game audio, refer to the A-Sun Softball Championship page.
No. 4 ETSU 2, No. 3Mercer 0
The Lady Bucs advanced into the winner's bracket with a 2-0 victory over Bears to start the day. ETSU's Marissa Hardy went all seven innings on the mound, holding Mercer to only three hits while striking out eight. Jessi Hackworth drove in the winning run in the top of the fourth with a single to center scoring Vicki McCoy.
No. 6 Gardner-Webb 3, No. 1 Lipscomb 2 Gardner-Webb's Molody Harrell and Jessi Williams each hit solo home runs as the Runnin' Bulldogs upset top-seeded Lipscomb, 3-2. Harrell's home run in the fifth was the difference maker, bringing home Gardner Webb's third and deciding run. Taryn Beck picked up the win in relief, going five innings while allowing three hits and giving up one run.
No. 5 Campbell 3, No. 2 Stetson 2 Freshman Keeli Michael hit a three-run homer off of Erica Demers in the second inning, igniting the Camels to a 3-2 victory over the defending-champion Hatters. Brittany Stanley went the distance for the Camels, fighting out of a bases-loaded jam in the fourth to earn the victory. For the first time under the current Championship format, the higher seed lost each of the opening three games of the Championship.
No. 2 Stetson 3, No. 1 Lipscomb 2 In the Championship's first elimination game, the Hatters survived thanks to the arm and the bat of Amanda Lindsey. Lindsey earned the complete-game win and helped out her own cause with a game-tying solo bomb to center in the top of the seventh. Later in the inning, Amy Peters scored the winning run from second after a single by Amy Joyce. Lipscomb is the first team eliminated from the 2008 Championship.
No. 3 Mercer 3, No. 6 Gardner-Webb 0 Jenni Holtz entered the game in a one-out, bases loaded jam in the third inning but didn't allow a run and only gave up one hit the remainder of the contest as the Bears fought to play another day. Stacey Condra hit her first home run of the season in the sixth, a two-run bomb that made the score 3-0 Bears. Condra was 2-3 at the plate during the game.
No. 5 Campbell 6, No. 4 ETSU 3 Campbell scored the first six runs of the game led by Amanda Littlejohn's 3-4, two-RBI performance. ETSU rallied with three runs in the fifth, but couldn't climb all the way back. Littlejohn ended the game a double shy of the cycle.
