JACKSON, Tenn. - The Trinity University Tigers returned to the SCAC Championship game for the second year in a row, this time arriving through the winners bracket and will square off against the Panthers of Birmingham-Southern.

Game Five 
Junior first baseman Haley Hughes went 3-5 from the plate with two homeruns, her second and third homeruns of the tournament, and set a new SCAC Conference Tournament record for most homeruns in the tournament with her performance. Southwestern defeated Austin College 9-5 in game one on day two of the tournament to stay alive in the loser's bracket. Box Score

With the first pitch of the game it was obvious that it was a renewed team as Taylor Turpin reached safely, laying down a beautiful bunt on the first pitch she saw. Austin College worked to two outs with just a runner on first and seemed poised to escape the inning, but a pair of errors on Haley Hughes' hard hit ball to second allowed the bases to be cleared as two runs scored. One more run on an RBI single by Ashleigh Scott put Southwestern up 3-0 through the first inning.

AC made a push to score in the second with a lead-off walk to Beltran and single by Farquhar with no outs, but starting pitcher Lyndsy Maus and the Pirate defense took care of business without the runners advancing further, retiring the next three batters in order.

Hughes added one more run in the third, taking the first pitch she saw, a fastball on the outside corner, to opposite field and over the fence to put SU up 4-0.

Just as in the second the 'Roos opened the fourth with runners on first and second with no outs, but Maus got Rossman to ground into a 643 double play. AC was still within striking distance of the plate with Beltran on third base and needed one more out and got just that from Amanda Ambrose as she fielded a tricky grounder and threw out Delaney at first to end the inning.

Hughes continued to be dynamite at the plate to open the fifth inning and delivered her second solo homerun of the game with a bomb to dead center on a full count, putting Southwestern up a comfortable 5-0. Tessa Galloway followed Hughes' lead and hit a solo shot of her own to left centerfield with two outs and gave the Pirates a 6-0 lead through four and a half.

With bases loaded the Pirates got three consecutive singles from Abi O'Connor, Turpin and Ambrose to drive in three more runs. The 'Roos spoiled the shut out for Maus with four hits to close out the game and arrive at the 9-5 final.

Hughes' homerun in the fifth made her the SCAC Tournament record holder for most home runs in the tournament with three. Three players, Margaret Kelly of Rose-Hullman ('06), Jennifer McKinley of Millsaps ('07) and Laci Hart of Austin College ('08), all hit two homeruns in previous seasons and held the record until today.

Maus earned the win with a sensational six innings of work and Kaitlyn Pavlicek closed things out on the mound with .2 innings. Turpin and Hughes both went 3-5 from the plate to lead offensively for Southwestern. Trudell went 3-4 from the plate for the 'Roos.

The win improve Southwestern to 25-17 on the year and they advance to face the winner of the Rhodes/Millsaps game at 4 p.m.

Game Six
The Lynx returned to SCAC today facing off against a familiar opponent, the Millsaps Majors. With both teams suffering a loss earlier in the tournament, the loser of the match would see their season end. Box Score

Forrest Skelton received the ball to begin the game. Skelton pitched 6 innings, walking 5, allowing 1 hit and striking out 9 batters. With the Majors' bats silenced, Rhodes went to work on Millsaps' pitchers.

The Lynx struck first in the second inning, pushing one run across in the frame. From that point forward, the Majors required the services of three different pitchers, (combined) giving up 11 hits and 7 runs (6 earned) over 6 innings of play.

For the Lynx, Forrest Skelton helped her own cause going 2-4 with 2 runs scored. Jessica Brown continued her stellar offensive performance blasting her second homerun of the tournament to dead center; Brown finished the contest 1-3 with 1 run scored and 2 RBI's. Senior Elise Suna, was 3-3 with 1 run scored and 1 RBI; and senior Kelli Zomer who was 2-2 (double, homerun) with 2 runs scored and 2 RBI's

Chelsea Peters was called upon in the top of the 7th innings for Rhodes, inducing a 6-4-3 double play advancing the Lynx to the 4:00 pm game.

Game Seven
The Trinity Tiger softball team scored a 6-5 win over Birmingham-Southern College at the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference Tournament on Saturday, advancing to the conference championship game. Box Score

Trinity (28-12) reached the SCAC Championship game for the second consecutive season under Head Coach Selena Collins.  The Tigers are just one win away from the team's first SCAC title since the 2007 season, which would also tie the school record for victories in one year.

Lauren Mercado went 2-4 and crushed two home runs to lead the Tigers to the victory, driving in five total runs.  It marks the second time this season that Mercado has hit two homers in one game, tying the school record.

In the first inning, Mercado hit her first round-tripper to put the Tigers up 3-0 after a half-inning of play.  Trinity then scratched a two-our rally together for another run in the second to make it 4-0.

Birmingham-Southern got on the board in the third with a two-out home run off the top of the fence in left-center field.  In the fifth, BSC tied the game with three runs on three hits, taking advantage of two Tiger errors to make it 4-4.

After a leadoff double off the fence by Trinity's Caitlynn Dykes in the seventh inning, Mercado then hit her second homer of the day to put the Tigers back in front 6-4.  Birmingham got a run in the bottom of the seventh, but left two runners on at the end of the game.

Dykes was 3-3 with one run and one RBI, while Chrissy Armstrong was 2-3 with a run scored.  Karen MacPherson also collected a pair of hits for the Tigers.

Sydney Friday (16-6) earned the complete-game win, allowing five runs (four earned) on eight hits, and striking out two.

Trinity will await to find out its opponent for tomorrow's SCAC Championship.  Still alive in the tournament are Southwestern, Rhodes, and Birmingham.  Southwestern and Rhodes will play to meet Birmingham in tonight's final game, and the winner of that final game will meet Trinity tomorrow.

Game Eight
Rhodes College and Southwestern faced off in the eighth game of the SCAC Conference Tournament in a rematch of the opening game of the tournament. Though slow to start the Pirates revved up their offense in the second half of the game, scoring six runs in their final three at bats to win 7-2 and remain alive. Box Score

Rhodes struck first, scoring with two outs on a Pirate error in the top of the first. Amanda Ambrose scored the equalizer, reaching first on a shot to center and then stealing second to move into scoring position. With two outs Ambrose was off and running on Haley Hughes' swing giving her just enough jump to beat the throw home on Hughes' single to left field, tying the score 1-1.

In similar fashion to the first inning the Lynx scored with two outs after a single and sacrifice to move the runner into scoring position. Brown hit a line drive just over the out-stretched arm of Ambrose at short to push in the run and move Rhodes up 2-1.

After a few fruitless innings Tessa Galloway handed the lead to the Pirates with one swing of the bat, driving the ball over the left field fence to bring home herself and Karen Ramirez in the process. The two run shot put Southwestern up 3-2 through four.

Kaitlyn Pavlicek came in relief in the circle to start the fourth and despite allowing a few baserunners kept the Lynx off balance with outstanding command of the ball.

To open the sixth Ashleigh Scott, Galloway and Kady Freshour singled to load the bases for Abi O'Connor with no outs, looking to pad their lead with a few runs. O'Connor sent a bouncer back to Peters on the mound who wasn't able to field the awkward bounce and allowed a run to score. Turpin followed suit with a single to Peters to bring in another run. After all was said and done the Pirates saw themselves up by five, 7-2.

KP continued to work the outside corner with precision and after uncharacteristically walking two batters the Rhodes' Brown hit a shot off the right field fence to drive in one run and leave runners on second and third for Zomer with one out. A sacrifice fly to right field by Zomer brought RC within three, 4-7, but more importantly put the Pirates one out away from securing the win.

Williams followed with a single up the middle to drive in another run but KP got Martin to ground out to Ramirez at second base to end the game.

Southwestern had 11 hits in the game including a 3-3 performance from Galloway. Pavlicek earned the win with 4 innings of work, allowing four hits, three runs while striking out five and walking two.

The win advances SU to the loser bracket semi-final to seek revenge on their earlier loss to Birmingham Southern.

Game Nine
For the second time in the day the Pirates took on a repeat opponent in the SCAC Conference Tournament. This time the opponent was Birmingham Southern who defeated SU 4-3 on day one of the tourney and the Pirates ran out of steam offensively in game two, falling 6-2 to be eliminated from the tournament. Box Score

Both teams were able to get runners on base to open the game, but couldn't push anyone past second base as the game remained tied 0-0 heading into the second.

Fronk opened the third with a double to right center for Birmingham Southern and Berkopec moved her to third with a single to shallow center field. Fronk was brought home for the first run of the game on an RBI single by Lopez and the Panthers took a 1-0 lead into the bottom of the third.

Abi O'Connor took the first pitch of the bottom half of the inning into center field and moved into scoring position on a wild pitch. Amanda Ambrose's slow roller to Ferris at first moved O'Connor one base closer with two outs. Kaitlyn Pavlicek poked the 3-2 pitch through the infield to bring home the equalizer 1-1.

Fernandez responded with a lead-off double to left center to open the fourth and with the shot the Pirates brought in Pavlicek to return to the circle. Fernandez moved to third on a sacrifice bunt and was brought home by Bice with one out. A passed ball and shallow hit allowed more runs to score and put BSC up four, 5-1, through three and a half.

Southwestern steadily got runners on base but couldn't get the crucial hit they needed to push runs across the plate until Tessa Galloway's shot to center field that was just inches from clearing the fence, bringing home Ramirez who opened the inning with a double.

The Panthers added an insurance run in the seventh on an RBI grounder by Rucker to bring the count to the 6-2 final.

SU recorded nine hits and were led by Turpin and Pavlicek who both went 2-4 from the plate in the loss. BSC also had nine hits on the evening and were led by Lopez and Fernandez who both posted two hits.

To view the official website for the 2012 SCAC Softball Touranament which includes interviews from coaches and student-athletes covering all of today's action, click here.