The Southwestern Pirates softball team solidified their seed as the #1 team in the West at next weekend's SCAC Conference Tournament with a game one win over Millsaps on Saturday afternoon. SU took game one 2-0 and then fell 3-0 in game two to improve to 26-12 on the year and 12-2 in the SCAC. Millsaps moved to 16-21 and 9-5 on the afternoon.
The first batter of game one showed the dog fight that was in store. Starting pitcher Lauren Zearfoss (pictured) and Millsaps leadoff Thompson battled each other through 11 pitches before Zearfoss got Thompson to groundout and then followed by striking out the next two batters.
Southwestern's Taylor Turpin was the first player on either side to reach second base after a single and stolen base in the bottom of the third with two outs, but Tyner struck out the next batter to keep Turpin from being a serious threat and keeping the game scoreless through three.
Kayla Irvin broke the stalemate in the fourth inning with a two-run shot over the leftfield fence, driving in pinch-runner Kimberlyn Lurati to give the Pirates a 2-0 lead through four innings of play.
Zearfoss kept the Majors in check the rest of the way to earn her 15th win of the season to move to 15-4 on the year, improving upon her already impressive ERA. Prior to today's contest Zearfoss sat at 12th in the nation and tops in the SCAC in earned run average. The shutout is her seventh of the year as she held Millsaps to just two hits on the afternoon, walking none and striking out nine.
Irvin led the way at the plate going 2-3 with two RBI's and one run scored. The other six hits were spread out evenly between the rest of the Pirates.
Game two had a similar start with both teams testing the water early but unable to push one across. Millsaps scored in the third inning with a leadoff walk to Hewitt followed by a slap double by Thompson that drifted over Galloway in leftfield and rolled to the fence, advancing the runners to second and third. Hewitt came home on Spicer's single and the Majors added two more to take a 3-0 lead after two and a half.
Southwestern made strong contact throughout the contest but the Majors always seemed to be in the right spot to make the play, giving SU the loss.
Lyndsy Maus garnered the loss, allowing three runs on eight hits with two walks and six strike outs. SU was held to just three hits, one each for Amanda Ambrose, Abi O'Connor and Tessa Galloway.
The two teams will wrap-up the series and the regular season with a double-header on Sunday afternoon beginning at noon.