XENIA, Ohio – For the first time since 2014, the Kentucky Wesleyan College softball team is headed to the Great Midwest Athletic Conference Championship. The Panthers stayed alive with two wins in the conference tournament on Saturday, both over Trevecca Nazarene, to move to 37-20 overall. The team has a chance to make history tomorrow, tying the program record 38 wins set in the 1986 season, and also bring home the first G-MAC title in school history.
The No. 2 seed Panthers will face the No. 4 seed Davis & Elkins in the Championship on Sunday with first pitch set for 10 am CT. Game two will follow at 12 pm CT if necessary. When the two teams met earlier this season, the Senators swept the day one doubleheader and the Panthers took both games on day two.
Game One: Trevecca Nazarene 6 – Kentucky Wesleyan 9
Lexie Mullen put the Panthers on the board in the bottom of the third inning. With the bases loaded and no outs, the freshman hit a grand slam over the fence in left field to put Kentucky Wesleyan ahead 4-0.
The Trojans tabbed four hits in the top of the fourth to tie the game up. In the bottom of the frame, Maddie Dawson led off with a double to left field and scored on a single to right center from Courtney Lockwood.
The lead was short lived once again as Trevecca plated one run in the top of the fifth to knot the game at five.
Kentucky Wesleyan pulled away with two runs in the bottom of the inning. Dawson drove in Parker with a double to right center and eventually scored on a single from Mullen to put the Panthers ahead 7-5 after five innings.
A lead off triple and a bunt single from the Trojans would put Trevecca within one but the Panthers plated two runs in the bottom of the sixth. Back-to-back doubles from Jamie Tempel and Parker put two runners in scoring position with one out. Daunhauer cleared the bases with a single to right center field, sealing the win for the Panthers.
Casey Smith picked up her eighth win of the season, striking out two and allowed three runs off of five hits in two innings pitched. Maci Brown earned her second save, closing out the final two innings.
The Panthers pounded out 17 hits in game one with Dawson leading the way a perfect four-for-four at the plate with three runs scored. Daunhauer finished three-for-four with two runs batted in and one scored herself. Mullen, Courtney Lockwood, Abbey Winstead, Parker and Tempel each recorded two hits.
Game Two: Kentucky Wesleyan 12 - Trevecca Nazarene 2 (six innings)
The Panthers wasted no time getting on the board in game two, plating five runs in the first inning. Two runs scored on Trojan errors while Lockwood drove in one with a single up the middle and Tempel tabbed a two-run single to left center.
Trevecca scored one run in the bottom of the inning to cut their deficit to four but the Panthers pulled away with four runs over the next four innings.
Daunhauer led off the second with a triple to right center and scored on a hard hit single down the left field line from Dawson. In the top of the fourth, Tempel hit her second home run of the season, a one-run shot to right field. The Panthers plated two more run in the top of the fifth to take a 9-1 lead. Winstead drove in one with a sacrifice fly, and Mullen scored on a fielder's choice.
The Trojans scored one in the bottom of the fifth but the Panthers sealed the victory in the top of the sixth with three more runs. With two outs and two on, Mullen blasted her second home run of the day and conference leading 11th of the season.
Daunhauer and Dawson both went three-for-four in game two with two runs scored each. Lockwood and Tempel tabbed two hits a piece while Jaylin Tidwell and Mullen each recorded one. Tempel and Mullen both drove in three runs.
Brown went the distance in her conference-leading 16th win of the season. The sophomore stuck out three and allowing two runs off of seven hits and one walk.
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