COLUMBUS, Ga. -- One of the best regular seasons in Tuskegee history came to a tough end at the 2026 SIAC Softball Championship presented by Toyota. After entering the tournament as the favorites, the Golden Tigers' attempt to fight through the elimination bracket came up short on Wednesday at the South Commons Softball Complex, dropping a 3-2 decision to Miles after taking a 2-0 win over Albany State in the rain-delayed event.
(W1) TUSKEGEE 2, (E1) ALBANY STATE 0
What was supposed to be a possible championship matchup turned into an early elimination battle that saw
Monica Rose strike out a career-high 13 batters in getting her 10th complete-game shutout of the season.
The first two innings were played on Tuesday before the game was postponed due to inclement weather. By then, the sophomore hurler had five strikeouts. When play resumed, her team quickly gave her a lead. Two straight errors and a walk loaded the bases and one out later,
Taneah Gibbons drove in
Shanna McNair with a sacrifice fly for the first run of the game.
Rose continued to mow down the Lady Rams, striking out the side in the third and adding single punch outs in thee fourth and fifth innings to giver her 10. The offense then gave her a little insurance in the seventh.
Martha Hurt led off with a single and advanced to third on a sacrifice bunt by
Payton Dunham. She would score on a wild pitch that doubled the Tuskegee advantage.
Albany State made some noise in the bottom of the seventh, bringing the tying run to the plate after a leadoff double. But Rose shut down the last three hitters - the last coming on a strikeout - to send the Lady Rams home and the Golden Tigers to the next round.
(3W) MILES 3, (1W) TUSKEGEE 2
The Golden Tigers had not lost to the Lady Bears this decade, having won 15 straight over Miles before giving up two late runs in an eventual season-ending loss.
The Lady Bears had taken a 1-0 lead but Tuskegee was able to tie the game in the fourth. After nearly running themselves out of the inning,
Jordyn Belote hit a two-out double that scored Gibbons to tie the game. Then, in the fifth, McNair led off with a single and ultimately scored on a sacrifice fly by
Kenya Tatum to put the Golden Tigers ahead. But that lead was very short lived.
Jordan Garcia's third pitch of the sixth inning was hit out of the park for a home run by Gabriela Garcia to tie the game. As the game went into the seventh, coach Detrich Randle went back to Rose in hopes of keeping Miles off the scoreboard. But with two outs, a ground ball right at Tatum got past her and went into left field to allow the go ahead run to score. Tuskegee put the tying run on first base in the bottom of the seventh when Hurt reached on a single but the Golden Tigers could not get her home and a great season came to an earlier-than-expected end.
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