The Tusculum College softball team opened the final week of its regular season with a non-conference doubleheader sweep at King College Monday afternoon. The Pioneers won the opener 8-2 behind an 11-hit attack, and took game two 4-3 in eight innings as Elizabeth Johnson recorded her 24th win of the season.

The Pioneers (29-18) will be back in action Wednesday afternoon at 3 p.m. for a key South Atlantic Conference doubleheader against Lenoir-Rhyne at Red Edmonds Field. The Bears are in sole possession of first place in the SAC at 10-4 while the Pioneers are tied for second place with Anderson at 9-5.

Game 1: Tusculum 8, King 2
(Box Score)

The Pioneers broke a 2-2 tie with a run in the fourth, and added four more in the fifth and one in the sixth to support the pitching of Kaytlin Stroinski (2-6), who allowed just two first-inning runs and struck out five in a complete-game performance.

Tusculum finished with 11 hits in the contest, including 2-for-3 performances from Ashley Burke and Ashley Bagley and 2-for-4 efforts from Katie Brennan and Lindsey Umberger. Savannah Ewing, Stroinski and Brennan all scored two runs.

The Pioneers opened the scoring in the top of the first inning against Tornado starter Hannah Light (12-3), as Ewing and Stroinski reached on singles and scored on an RBI single by Burke for a 2-0 lead.

King came back with two runs in the bottom of the first on a two-run double by Kendall Brabson, and the game remained even at 2-2 until the fourth. In the top of the inning, Brennan led off with a single, moved to second on a sacrifice by Burke, took third on an infield single by Umberger and scored on a sacrifice fly by Katie Gross for a 3-2 Tusculum lead.

The Pioneers took advantage of three errors by the Tornado in the fifth inning, scoring four unearned runs in the frame to build a 7-2 lead. A passed ball and two throwing errors allowed three of the runs to score, with the fourth coming home on an RBI triple by Brennan. Tusculum finished the scoring in the sixth as Gross led off with a double and scored on a sacrifice fly by Ewing.

"We received a good pitching effort from Kaytlin. She was able to shut them down by keeping their hitters off-balance," said Pioneer head coach Fred Gillum. "At the plate, we were able to put some runs on the board and take advantage of their errors."

Light struck out eight and did not walk a batter, but was tagged with the loss for King after giving up eight runs on 11 hits.

Game 2: Tusculum 4, King 3 (8 innings)
(Box Score)

The Pioneers improved to 4-0 in extra-inning games this season as Umberger delivered the go-ahead single in the top of the eighth inning, and Johnson worked out of a second-and-third, one-out jam in the bottom of the inning to improve her record to 24-9.

With the game tied 3-3 after seven innings, the Pioneers' Ashley Burke was placed on second to start the international tiebreaker in the eighth. Brennan bunted her to third, and Umberger came through with a hit into left field to bring home Burke with the go-ahead run.

The Tornado (24-14) had runners at second and third with one out in the bottom of the eighth, but Johnson got the second out on a comebacker and ended the game with her third strikeout of the afternoon.

"The sacrifice bunt from Katie was huge in that inning, as was the hit by Umberger," said Gillum. "Liz did a great job of getting out of jams all day long. She had a really good outing."

Umberger finished 2-for-3 with two runs batted in for the Pioneers, and Katy Stuckwish was 3-for-4 with a run scored in the nightcap. King also had eight hits as a team in game two, paced by Stephanie Rodriguez who was 2-for-3.

King took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the second as Brabson led off with a walk and came around to score on an outfield error.

Tusculum came back with three runs in the top of the second off King starter Rachael Wilmoth. Stuckwish led off with a single and stole second, and later scored on a sacrifice fly by Burke which tied the game at 1-1. Umberger then singled home Ewing for a 2-1 Pioneer lead, and Stroinski scored the third run while Umberger was caught stealing at second base to end the inning.

The Tornado tied the game with two runs in the bottom of the third on an RBI single by Fallon Thomas and a two-out throwing error.

Both teams stranded a pair of runners in the fourth inning, and King left two more in the fifth. Tusculum left a runner in scoring position in both the sixth and seventh innings prior to scoring the go-ahead run in the eighth.

Johnson allowed one earned run and walked two for the Pioneers, while Wilmoth (11-6) worked 7 2/3 innings and gave up four runs (one earned) on eight hits while striking out one and walking one.