After losing the first game on day two of the 2019 Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SIAC) Softball Tournament, Tuskegee faced the difficult challenge of having to win two consecutive just to have a chance at advancing to Saturday. The plan came together when TU posted a 5-0 win over Benedict and a 3-0 victory over Lane College after dropping the day's opening contest to Kentucky State by a final of 8-2. Skegee will now face KSU Saturday morning in a rematch at 9:00 a.m. with a championship finals berth at stake in Albany, Ga. and the Gordon Sports Complex.
With the season on the line, TU kept its hopes alive with a 3-0 win over Lane College. The game marked back to back shutouts in the tournament after blanking Benedict one game prior. Mowery towed the rubber for the Golden Tigers pitching all seven innings and didn't allow a single run to score on six hits.
It took two four innings for points to land on the scoreboard, but in the fourth inning, Tennessee reached on a fielder's choice that scored Gibbons for a 1-0 Golden Tigers lead. In the seventh inning, Dumas hit a two-RBI double to left field that scored Lyons and Tennessee, which provided Skegee with a 3-0.
Senior pitcher
Chelsea Mowery and TU's stingy defense handled the rest, holding the Dragons in its final inning, ended their season. Lyons finished game three going 2-of-3 at the plate with a run scored. She would be the only TU batter to notch multiple hits.
In game two, against Benedict, TU bounced back with a 5-0 shutout in an elimination game, which started in the first inning when
Kendra Gibbons doubled to center field scoring
Jasmyne Lawrence for an early 1-0 lead. In the second inning, a Dumas single allowed Hawkins to score an unearned run from an error.
The Golden Tigers created a deeper hole in the third inning after
Chelsea Mowery singled to left center, earning three RBI that scored Gibbons,
Sierra Smith and Lawrence for a commanding 5-0 lead, which also ended up being the final score.
Lyons picked up her second postseason victory of the season pitching all seven inning, allowing five hits, no runs and three strikeouts.
In game one against the Thorobreds, two huge scoring innings coupled with cold bats proved to be the difference in a 8-2 decision Friday morning. KSU scored three in the first inning when Olivia Saylor singled to center scoring J. Zubiate for a 1-0 lead. Olison later doubled to left center, driving in Saylor and Thompson, making the score 3-0. Over the next six inning, the Thorobreds would add five more runs, which increased their lead to 8-0.
TU got on the board in the bottom of the seventh, when Lyons scored for a left center field double by Hawkins. The scoring was rounded out after
Kyah Dumas flied out to left field on a sacrifice RBI that drove in Cece Tennessee. Lyons and Tennessee both finished 2-of-3 at the plate and both scored one run each.
