***SCHEDULE NOTE: Friday’s three games at the Southern Conference Softball Championship are moving up two and a half hours each due to the threat of inclement weather in the Greensboro area.***

No. 6 seed Western Carolina 3, No. 7 seed ETSU 2
GREENSBORO, N.C. – No. 6 seed Western Carolina defeated No. 7 seed ETSU 3-2 to eliminate the Buccaneers in the first game on day two of the Southern Conference Softball Championship on Thursday at UNCG Softball Stadium.
 
WCU (19-33) advances to play later Thursday at 5:30 p.m. against the loser of the No. 1 seed UNCG and No. 4 seed Furman game. That contest will be an elimination game.
 
The Catamounts scored one run in the opening inning. Addie Pate hit an RBI single to deep right field to bring Bailey Huneycutt in to score. Huneycutt would put the squad up 3-0 two innings later with one swing of the bat as she crushed a two-run home run to left field. The homer would be the 15^th of the season for the first-team All-SoCon performer.
 
ETSU would use a two-out rally in the fifth inning to draw closer. After back-to-back walks, Cameron Young hit a double to center field to drive in two runs and make the score 3-2.
 
The Bucs would not threaten again as Tessa Juett (5-11) put the finishing touches on her ninth complete game of the season for Western Carolina. She allowed just one hit in the final two frames as she finished the game with five strikeouts.
 
Huneycutt went 2-for-3 in the game with two RBIs and two runs scored. Lindsey Perillo also had two hits for the Catamounts.
 
Six different Bucs had a hit in the game. Andrea Sarhatt and Amber Atkins scored the runs for ETSU as Atkins stole a base, as well.
 
Allison Farr (5-18) started the game for ETSU and threw four innings before exiting the game. Whitley Arnott pitched two innings in relief and gave up just one hit.
 
No. 1 seed UNCG 9, No. 4 seed Furman 0 (5 inn.)
GREENSBORO, N.C. – Samantha Lagrama hit a pair of home runs, including a fourth-inning grand slam, and Morgan Scott became UNCG’s single-season strikeout record-holder as the top-seeded Spartans opened their title defense at the 2022 Southern Conference Softball Championship with a 9-0 win over No. 4 seed Furman in five innings on Thursday at UNCG Softball Stadium.
 
UNCG (38-16) will face either No. 2 seed Samford or No. 3 seed Chattanooga on Friday at 10 a.m. Furman (21-32) falls to the losers’ bracket and will take on No. 6 seed Western Carolina later Thursday, at 5:30 p.m.
 
Lagrama hit her first homer of the day, a solo shot, to lead off the third inning. The Spartans added another run later in the inning on a Makenna Matthijs RBI single.
 
Two innings later, UNCG put the game out of reach and into run-rule territory. Jessie Shipley got the scoring started with a two-run double to left center with no one out. After a fly out, a hit batter and a walk loaded the bases, Jordan Gontram drew a walk to force in another run and knock Furman starter Sierra Tufts from the game. Lagrama greeted reliever Bailey Tanner by hammering an 0-1 pitch out to center, making it a 9-0 game, and extending UNCG’s program record for single-season homers to 97.
 
Meanwhile, Scott (24-11), the SoCon Pitcher of the Year for the second straight year, cruised, allowing just two hits and a walk, striking out nine. She entered the contest needing just four Ks to become the Spartans’ single-season leader and got the record-breaker on three pitches to lead off the fourth. She would add four more to finish the contest with 268 on the season.
 
Furman’s hits were singles from Caitlin Goldwait in the second inning and Ashlee Lykins in the third. Trailing just 2-0 at the time, the Paladins’ best scoring chance came in the top of the fourth, when Goldwait reached on an error and Natalie Morgan walked, but Scott recovered to strike out Marina Griffin looking to end the inning.
 
Shipley joined Lagrama with a pair of hits in the contest to lead UNCG at the plate.
 
Tufts (10-16) took the loss, as she was charged with eight earned runs on six hits and five walks in 3 1/3 innings of work.

No. 3 seed Chattanooga 4, No. 2 seed Samford 0
GREENSBORO, N.C. – Brooke Parrott threw a complete game shutout, striking out five and allowing just three hits for the No. 3 seed Chattanooga Mocs as they shut out the No. 2 seed Samford, 4-0, to advance in the winners’ bracket in Southern Conference Softball Championship on Thursday at UNCG Softball Stadium.
 
UTC (27-25) advances to play No. 1 seed UNCG on Friday at 10 a.m. Samford (32-18) will now play No. 5 seed Mercer later Thursday at 8 p.m. in an elimination game.
 
Thursday’s shutout was the first time the Mocs shut out an opponent at the SoCon Championship since 2014. They blanked three teams in that tournament on their way to a conference championship.
 
Chattanooga had its bats working early as they got three runs in the first inning. After a walk, a fielder’s choice that failed to get Emily Coltharp at second, and a sacrifice placed runners on second and third, Acelynn Sellers doubled down the right field line to drive in two runs, scored by Kailey Snell and Coltharp. Sellers would eventually score on a fielder’s choice off the bat of Kaili Phillips.
 
One inning later, Adison Keylon drove the first pitch of the frame over the center field wall. That was all the offense that Parrott (13-7) would need as she had a complete game for the second day in a row, following Wednesday’s 10-inning outing versus Western Carolina.
 
The Bulldogs’ leadoff hitter, Sarah Squillace, was the team’s bright spot offensively as she went 2-for-3. SoCon Player of the Year Mary Katherine Tedder had the other hit in the game as the two both reached base in the sixth, but Samford could not complete the rally.
 
Jordyn Partain (10-8) had a rough start for Samford inside the circle, but she would respond and allow just one hit in the final five innings.
 
No. 4 seed Furman 8, No. 6 seed Western Carolina 5
GREENSBORO, N.C. – No. 4 seed Furman and No. 6 seed Western Carolina combined for 11 runs in a wild sixth inning as the Paladins rallied past the Catamounts on Thursday, 8-5, at the Southern Conference Softball Championship at UNCG Softball Stadium.
 
Furman (22-32) advances to Friday’s 12:30 p.m. game against either No. 2 seed Samford or No. 5 seed Mercer. Western Carolina sees its season end at 19-34.
 
Western Carolina scored five runs in the top half of the sixth to take its first lead of the afternoon, but the Paladins quickly answered with six runs of their own in the bottom half to stun the Catamounts.
 
Furman led 2-0 in the late going after scoring on an error in the second and on Marina Griffin’s RBI single in the fourth. Down to its final six outs, Western Carolina finally saw its offense roar to life in the sixth, plating five runs on five hits and a pair of Furman errors. Starting pitcher Savannah Rice and Bailey Treadway had the big blows in the inning, with Rice helping her own cause with a go-ahead two-run homer on the first pitch she saw from reliever Bailey Tanner and Treadway following with a home run to center on the next pitch.
 
Freshman right-hander Emme Buzhardt came in and stopped the bleeding, striking out the next two batters to escape the jam.
 
Now trailing 5-2, Furman’s offense went to work. After the first two batters walked to open the frame, Griffin came through again, this time with an RBI single to left center. Chloe Fabio then doubled to score Griffin and Natalie Morgan, tying the contest at 5 and forcing a pitching change. Tessa Juett got a strikeout and a fly out for the first two outs of the inning, but Alex Rose Molinar stroked an RBI double to score pinch-runner Becca Crawford with the go-ahead run and Riley Ludlam followed with a two-run homer to center for some insurance.
 
Buzhardt (5-3) worked a 1-2-3 seventh to pick up the win, as she struck out three in her 1 2/3 perfect innings.
 
Rice (10-16) took the loss, as she surrendered five earned runs on seven hits and three walks in 5-plus innings.
 
Neither starter made it out of the sixth inning, as Rice Furman’s Sierra Tufts allowed two earned on seven hits in 5 1/3 innings.
 
Molinar finished with a game-best three hits for the Paladins, while Ludlam and Griffin had two hits apiece.
 
Treadway had the lone two-hit game for the Catamounts.
 
No. 2 seed Samford 7, No. 5 seed Mercer 6

GREENSBORO, N.C. – No. 2 seed Samford scored two runs in the bottom of the seventh inning Thursday to walk off with a 7-6 win over No. 5 seed Mercer in the day’s final game at the Southern Conference Softball Championship at UNCG Softball Stadium.
 
The Bulldogs (33-18) advance to Friday’s 12:30 p.m. game against No. 4 seed Furman. Mercer’s season ends at 16-40.
 
Samford scored five unanswered runs over the final three innings to erase any thoughts of a Bears upset. After Mercer scored three in the top of the fifth to take a 6-2 lead, Samford got a Merritt Cahoon two-run double and an RBI single from Ansley Yantis to get back within a run.
 
Down to their final three outs, the Bulldogs rallied in the seventh. Freshman designated player Gwynnie Hornibrook drew a one-out walk to get things going, and Yantis followed with a walk of her own before pinch-hitter Grier Bruce roped a double to left center to score pinch-runner Abigail Dorsett with the tying run. After another walk loaded the bases, Sarah Squillace hit a grounder to second and Yantis beat the throw to the plate to give Samford the walk-off win.
 
The rally made a winner of Jordyn Partain (11-8), who threw 2 1/3 innings of scoreless relief of starter and SoCon Freshman of the Year McKenzie Newcomb, who matched her career high with 10 strikeouts but surrendered six runs on 10 hits and a pair of walks in 4 2/3 innings.
 
The Bears seemed poised for the upset from the get-go, jumping on Newcomb for a run in the first on Diamond Williams’s RBI double.
 
Williams doubled the lead with another RBI double in the third, but Samford answered with a pair of runs in the bottom half on Timberlyn Shurbutt’s two-run double to make it a 2-2 affair.
 
The Bears went right back on top the following inning, with Madison Headley’s single down the left field line scoring pinch-runner Elisa Rosado to make it 3-2.
 
Mercer seemed to blow the game open in the fifth, plating three runs to take a 6-2 lead. Pinch-hitter Sophie Sumner singled of the glove of diving second baseman Squillace to knock in a pair of runs, and pinch-hitter Kylie Helm followed with an RBI single down the right field line.
 
The big lead was short-lived, however, as Samford pushed across its three runs in the bottom half to draw back within a run.
 
Cahoon, Shurbutt, McKayla Cothran and Amanda Briskin logged two hits apiece as Samford had the narrow 11-10 edge in hits. Williams and Headley each had a pair to lead Mercer.
 
Bailey Pattison (1-2) took the loss after allowing two runs on three hits and three walks in 1 1/3 innings. Starter Hannah Pitts took the no-decision after allowing five runs on eight hits and a pair of walks in five innings of work.
 
2022 SoCon Softball Championship (all games on ESPN+)
Greensboro, N.C.
Wednesday, May 11
Game 1: No. 4 Furman 4, No. 5 Mercer 3
Game 2: No. 2 Samford 4, No. 7 ETSU 3 (9 inn.)
Game 3: No. 3 Chattanooga 3, No. 6 Western Carolina 2 (10 inn.)
 
Thursday, May 12
Game 4: No. 6 Western Carolina 3, No. 7 ETSU 2
Game 5: No. 1 UNCG 9, No. 4 Furman 0 (5 inn.)
Game 6: No. 3 Chattanooga 4, No. 2 Samford 0
Game 7: No. 4 Furman 8, No. 6 Western Carolina 5
Game 8: No. 2 Samford 7, No. 5 Mercer 6
 
Friday, May 13
Game 9: No. 1 UNCG vs. No. 3 Chattanooga, 10 a.m.
Game 10: No. 4 Furman vs. No. 2 Samford, 12:30 p.m.
Game 11: Game 10 winner vs. Game 9 loser, 3 p.m.
 
Saturday, May 14
Game 12: Game 9 winner vs. Game 11 winner, 1 p.m.
Game 13 (if necessary): Game 12 winner vs. Game 12 loser, 3 p.m.