HARTSVILLE, S.C. – The Coker College softball team improved to 40-16 on the season after a dramatic 9-7 win in eight innings over the Newberry College Wolves on day three (Apr. 29) of the South Atlantic Conference Championship Tournament.
Maria Williamson got the Cobras on the board in the bottom of first inning, lifting a sacrifice fly to right field, scoring Cacey Simmons and giving Coker a 1-0 lead. Newberry squared the game up in the top of the second inning with a sacrifice fly of its own. A pair of base hits for Newberry in the top of the third gave the Wolves a 3-1 lead. Coker responded in the bottom of the frame, as back-to-back base hits by Williamson and Hannah Price tied the game back up at 3-3.
Both sides went down in order in the fourth and fifth innings, however Newberry plated four runs in the top of the sixth inning to take a 7-3 lead. Coker once again responded in the bottom of the sixth inning, as a two-RBI single by Allyson High and a RBI single by Barcomb cut the deficit for the Cobras to 7-6 going into the seventh.
The Wolves would go down quietly in the top of the seventh, leaving the stage set for the Navy and Gold. Hannah Price was hit by a pitch to start the bottom half of the seventh and was pitch-run for by Anna Gluhosky. Back-to-back strikeouts brought Coker down to its last out, with Augusta Jackson pitch-hitting for Hannah Goodman. In fact, Jackson found herself down to her last strike, before singling to right field to keep the hopes alive for the Cobras. Senior Riley Morris dug into the box next, slashing a single back up the middle, scoring Gluhosky and tying the game up at 7-7 and forcing extra innings.
Newberry went down in order in the eighth, giving the Cobras a chance to win it in the bottom half of the frame. After Simmons walked, Barcomb stepped to the plate, with the winning-run aboard. Simmons stole second to put herself in scoring position, however, it did not matter as Tayler Barcomb belted a game-winning two-run home run to center field, clinching the 9-7 win for the Cobras in extra innings.
Barcomb led the way at the plate, going 4-for-5 with three RBI and two runs scored. Kelsi Bachmann, Allyson High, Maria Williamson, Hannah Price, Lilli Otten, Mindy North, Augusta Jackson and Riley Morris all recorded hits in the win, with High and Williamson plating two RBI, to go along with Price and Morris plating one RBI.
Christine Carver improved to 8-4 on the season. She allowed just one hit in 2.1 innings of relief.
The Cobras will take on either Carson-Newman or Lenoir Rhyne at 5 p.m.
