LAGRANGE, Ga. — Averett University softball advanced to Saturday's USA South Conference championship with Friday's 10-4 victory over Ferrum College in the winner's bracket at the Shuford Softball Complex.
Averett (27-18) awaits its opponent for the battle for the conference tournament title. Ferrum (22-16) will face Maryville College on Saturday at 10 a.m. to decide who plays the unbeaten Cougars at 2 p.m. in the double-elimination tournament.
The Cougars took down Ferrum with a strong performance, producing eight runs over the final three innings to pull away from the Panthers. Averett grabbed a 2-0 lead in the second inning on freshman
Mallory Griffiths' RBI single and senior
Jessica Long's sacrifice fly. The Cougars extended their lead to 4-0 in the top of the fifth on sophomore
Andrea Grant's RBI single to left field and freshman
Casey Cook's sac fly.
Ferrum answered with a run in the bottom of the fifth inning, but Averett countered with two more runs in the sixth. With runners on the corners, Long stole second, and an errant throw to second allowed Griffiths to score from third. Long eventually scored by stealing home on a double steal with freshman
Kaitlyn Aherron.
Down 6-1, Ferrum closed the gap to just two runs with a three-run bottom of the sixth inning after loading the bases to open the frame. Although Averett got two outs, Cheyenne Strickland scored on a passed ball, and Maddie Ols trimmed Averett's lead to 6-4 with her two-run single.
The Cougars, however, tacked on four more runs in the top of the seventh to help put Ferrum away. Freshman
Nicole Cauthen, junior
Amanda Wright and senior
Samantha Hall each had an RBI single in that frame.
Aherron (13-8) earned the win in the circle, pitching all seven innings while striking out six and walking three.
Hall and Griffths each had two hits for the Cougars, who totaled 10 hits as a team.
Averett advanced to the championship for the second consecutive season. Because the Cougars are the only team remaining that hasn't lost at least once in the tournament, the winner of the Ferrum/Maryville game would need to beat Averett twice to prevent the Cougars from winning the USA South Tournament title and automatic berth into the NCAA Tournament.
