(Story taken from Southwestern website)

CONWAY, Ark. - The Southwestern softball team had a daunting task ahead of them on the final day of SCAC Conference Tournament action, needing to defeat Millsaps College twice to earn their first conference title. The program, just in its second year, stepped up to the challenge in a big way, winning 3-2 and 8-5 to be named 2010 SCAC Champions.

Millsaps was first on the board in the championship game with an RBI single by McKinley in the third inning. Southwestern quickly tied the game at their first chance, scoring a run of their own in the third. Amanda Ambrose walked to start the inning and Aly Pulver followed with a single through the right side. Blair Wallace had a well executed sacrifice bunt that moved both runners into scoring position. Haley Hughes took advantage of the runners and singled through the left side, driving in Ambrose to tie the game.

The rest of the game went scoreless but the Pirates loaded the bases in the bottom of the sixth with two outs on three straight singles, bringing Bre Lewis to the plate. Lewis, who had two singles already in the game hit a blooper to centerfield and was caught by a diving Spicer to keep the tie ball game.

Millsaps got their leadoff batter on base with a single up the middle and moved her to second on a sacrifice bunt. Litton hit a long ball to right field that resulted in a triple, driving in the run for the Majors to take a 2-1 lead heading into the final half of the inning.

Southwestern got a pair of runners on in the bottom of the seventh, first with a single up the middle by Aly Pulver and then Gola drew a two out walk bringing Hughes to the plate. After fouling off numerous pitches including one to deep left field that was just foul, Hughes drove one to deep centerfield that was uncatchable. Pinch runner Taylor Blair scored easily from second and without hesitation Coach Froboese sent Gola home who scored in time on a high relay throw giving the Pirates the improbable win once again, forcing a game two title game.

The Pirates were going to waste no time in game two and took the excitement and momentum from the first game into the start of the second. Hughes hit a three run homerun in her first at bat of the game to give the Pirates a quick 3-0 lead and the scoring didn't stop there as SU put up three more runs in the first to start out up 6-0.

Millsaps began to slowly chip their way back into the game, scoring one run in the first, and two in the second to pull within three runs, 6-3. Southwestern did not allow the Majors to cut their lead by that much and put up two more runs in the third, pushing their lead back to five 8-3.

With two runs in the fifth Millsaps came within three, 8-5, continuing to fight for the title. Southwestern would maintain their lead and cruise the rest of the way to a victory, earning them their first SCAC Conference Championship and berth into the NCAA tournament in just their second year as a program.

Southwestern sits at 31-11 on the year and will have have to wait over a week to find out where they will be seeded in the NCAA Regionals and where they will play.