Two Top 12 Teams Topple Tigers
March 15, 2010
Gulf Shores, Al- After emerging from pool play as the #1 seed for today's bracket play in the Gulf Coast Invitational, the Brenau softball team lost twice to drop their season record to 18-3-1. In the first game, they faced off against fellow SSAC member #12 Shorter (19-4) and lost 2-0 and then they had a rematch with #8 Martin Methodist (17-5) whom they had defeated one day before and came up short 1-0.
Anna Maness pitched both games today and came up with three strikeouts against Shorter. The offense was provided by Lana Lazar (1-4), Ellen Black (1-3), Colleen Sparrow (1-2) and Tiffany Shrader (2-3). The game was a defensive struggle with neither team able to mount much offense, but the Hawks pushed across their run in the sixth inning, and the Tigers had runners on second and third in the seventh, but couldn't get them home.
In the rematch with Martin Methodist, Maness struck out four and had a hit, Brooke Bryant was 1-2, Sarah Applegarth went 1-3, and Caitlin Kelly was 1-3. Again, the game came down to a late inning run by the Red Hawks that Brenau couldn't match.
"Our goal coming down here was to prove to ourselves that we could play with the best teams in the country and we certainly accomplished that by earning the #1 seed going into the championship round today," said Coach Devon Thomas. "I am very proud of my team for the quality of their play in this tournament, especially our pitching and defense. If we take care of business in conference play over the next few weeks, we will put ourselves in position to get back to the national tournament."