Valdosta, Ga. --Â Softball gave Shorter it's first-ever Gulf South Championship Sunday morning, topping No. 16 North Alabama 8-0 in five innings.
With the win, the Lady Hawks will receive an automatic bid to next weekend's NCAA South Region Tournament, and will learn their seeding and first opponent tomorrow morning at 10:00am when the selection show airs on NCAA.com.
Shorter took the lead in the first inning as
Niki Cook scored on an error by the first baseman after leading off with an infield single and stolen base – her 54th of the season.
Maggie Meacham; who reached on the error, made it a 2-0 game later in the inning when she scored on a double from
Ericka Bynum.
In the third, Bynum drew a walk and advanced to third one batter later as
Kameron Carter delivered a double down the left field line. Both then scored on a wild pitch and a throwing error by the catcher during the next at bat. In the fourth, the Lady Hawks added four runs to make it an 8-0 game. The first coming as
Janell Echols scored on a single from Meacham. Cook then came in on a sacrifice fly from Bynum before Shorter once again took advantage of a wild pitch – scoring twice, as both Meacham and
Kendall Johnson came in.
Maddie Bray earned the win for Shorter – her third of the tournament to improve to 14-9 on the season – allowing no runs on three hits with a walk and two strikeouts through 4.2 innings of work.
Kalei Kimbrell; who moved into lone possession of the most saves in NCAA Division II with 7 on the season and 3 this weekend faced the final batter of the game to aid in the win.
Carter and Cook each went 2-3 at the plate in the game; while five other Hawks recorded one hit each.
Earning All-Tournament accolades were Bray, Bynum, Kimbrell, and Meacham with Cook earning Most Outstanding Player recognition.
On the weekend Cook lead all hitters with 8 hits, while Bynum tallied 7 to go along with a tournament leading 7 RBI. Johnson and Cook each went 4-4 in stolen bases, and Kimbrell posted tournament high 14 strikeouts in 13 innings.
