Tuskegee battled hard in a 3-1 decision against Spring Hill College at the 2019 SIAC Softball Championship, but solid pitching from the Badgers ended up placing the Golden Tigers as Runner-ups as it marked their first appearance in the title game in three years.
Sierra Smith put TU on the board first with an RBI single that drove in
Jasmyne Lawrence, giving Skegee a 1-0 lead in the third inning. SHC would respond with a Fowler pop fly that scored Thomas, tying things at 1-1. In the fourth inning, the Badgers took its first lead of the game at 2-1 with an unearned run from Caruso. Two innings later in the sixth, Caruso's single created a bigger deficit after and RBI single that drove in Hartung.
Jamea Lyons pitched five innings of work only allowing four hits and two runs. In her last game in a Skegee uniform,
Chelsea Mowery allowed a pair of hits and one run, pitching one inning. Smith was the only Golden Tiger with multiple hits. She finished the championship game going 2-of-3 along with an RBI. Gibbons, Lawrence and Mowery also each notched one hit.
TU's 19 wins is the most since the 2016 SIAC Championship team that posted a 24-win total.
First baseman
Kyah Dumas and pitcher
Jamea Lyons were both named to the 2019 SIAC All-Tournament Team at the conclusion of the championship game.
Earlier in the day, the morning started with an 8-0 thumping of the Thorobreds in an elimination game. Playing through a very difficult losers bracket, the Golden Tigers had to win three in a row just to advance to the conference finals at the Gordon Sports Softball Complex.
The hot bats got going early when
Kayla Wright doubled to right field, scoring
Sierra Smith and created a 1-0 lead after the first inning. Two innings later, a
Kendra Gibbons single through the left side, drove in
Jasmyne Lawrence, extending TU's lead to 2-0. In the same inning,
Myracle Hawkins crushed a two-RBI single that scored Gibbons and Wright, which gave Skegee a 4-0 lead.
Gibbons came up huge against KSU going 2-of-4 with three RBI and two runs scored. Hawkins was also clutch at the plate with three hits on four at bats to also go along with three RBI.
The Golden Tigers went ahead 5-0 after another RBI single by Wright that brought Smith in to score. From there, Gibbons and Hawkins would round out the scoring with a pair of singles that scored Smith and Lawrence. In 2015, Skegee had to pull off three straight wins before claiming the conference championship.
