Tusculum College swept a South Atlantic Conference softball doubleheader from Catawba College on Sunday afternoon, winning the opener 3-1 and taking the nightcap by a score of 10-3 at Red Edmonds Field.

The Pioneers (20-18, 6-4 SAC) extended their winning streak to four games, while the Indians (21-10, 6-4 SAC) saw their losing skid reach four in a row. Tusculum will be on the road Tuesday afternoon with a doubleheader at Anderson starting at 2 p.m.

Game 1: Tusculum 3, Catawba 1
(Box Score)

Tusculum senior Kelly King outdueled Catawba ace Carley Tysinger as the Pioneers took the opener from the Indians. King (13-8) allowed five hits and one earned run while striking out three, while Tysinger (14-4) gave up six hits and three runs (two earned) with 10 strikeouts.

The Pioneers took advantage of four Indians errors and several misplays to build a 3-0 lead after three innings, and King shut down the Indians the rest of the way for the victory. Catawba's only run came in the fifth inning on an RBI double by Holli Chandler.

Tusculum took a 1-0 lead in the second as Tavi Parris singled with one out and moved to second on a walk to Brooke Rhodes. Nicole Ball reached safely when her fly ball to shallow center was dropped for an error to load the bases, but Tysinger got a strikeout for the second out. Alix Kruel then hit a grounder to third that was mishandled for an error, allowing Parris to score the game's first run.

In the third, the Pioneers did not hit a ball out of the infield but scored two runs to take a 3-0 lead. Miranda Beeler led off with a slap single to third and stole second. Kaytlin Stroinski then reached on a bunt single to third, and Courtney Hutcherson reached on a squeeze bunt that drove home Beeler with the Pioneers' second run. Parris then hit a hard grounder up the middle that was turned into an out as Stroinski crossed for a 3-0 Pioneer lead. Ball added a bunt single later in the inning, but a strikeout left runners stranded at second and third.

Catawba was limited to just one baserunner into the fifth inning, on a two-out single by Chandler in the third, but finally broke through on the scoreboard against King in the fifth. Back-to-back singles with one out was followed by a strikeout to leave two on with two out for Chandler, who drove a 1-2 pitch to deep right to bring home Gina Gerone with Catawba's first run. On the play, the other Catawba runner stumbled and held at third, while Chandler continued past second toward third. With both runners near the bag, Chandler was tagged out for the final out of the inning.

The Indians had their final threat in the sixth as Kristen Stinnard had a one-out single, but Tysinger's grounder to Kruel at second was turned into a double play to end the inning. King then retired the side in the seventh on three infield grounders to finish off her 20th complete game in as many starts.

Parris led the Pioneers at the plate by going 2-for-3 with an RBI and a run scored. Chandler paced the Indians by going 2-for-2 with their lone RBI in the opener.

Game 2: Tusculum 10, Catawba 3
(Box Score)

The Pioneers fell behind 3-0 in the first inning, but roared back with two three-run innings and a four-run frame to cruise to the victory over the Indians. Eliza Davis (3-6) came on in relief for the Pioneers after the first three Catawba batters reached in the first inning, and threw seven shutout innings for the win while allowing four hits and striking out two.

At the plate, all nine starters for the Pioneers had at least one hit and one run scored in the win, including two hits each from Hutcherson, Carolyn Williamson, Paige Sneed and Katie Brennan. Stroinski and Hutcherson each had two runs batted in for the Pioneers, who banged out 13 hits against three Indians pitchers in the victory.

Catawba struck quickly in the top of the first against Tusculum starter Rachel Medley, as a leadoff walk and an infield single was followed by a two-run triple from Chandler for a 2-0 Indians lead. Davis came on for Medley and saw Chandler score on a passed ball, but got out of further trouble to keep the deficit at 3-0.

Tusculum erased the Catawba lead in its half of the first against Indians starter Emily B. Huneycutt. Williamson led off with a triple and scored on a throwing error on a bunt single by Beeler. Stroinski then doubled to the fence in deep left to drive home Beeler, and later scored on a groundout by Parris to tie the game at 3-3.

The Pioneers added three more runs in the second off Indians reliever Katie Smith (0-1). Sneed, Kruel and Williamson singled to load the bases with nobody out, and Stroinski walked with one out to force home Sneed for a 4-3 Pioneer lead. Hutcherson then dropped a two-run single just inside the left-field line to bring home Kruel and Williamson and push the Pioneers on top 6-3.

Tusculum tacked on four more runs in the fifth against Catawba reliever Caroline Turner to take a 10-3 lead. With one out, Hutcherson and Parris hit back-to-back singles and Brennan followed with an RBI single for a 7-3 lead. Ball followed with an RBI double and Sneed delivered a run-scoring single for a 9-3 lead, and Kruel drove home the fourth run on a sacrifice fly to left.

Davis did the rest for the Pioneers, retiring the final eight batters and 13 of the last 14. It was the second time this week that a Pioneer reliever came on in the first and pitched the rest of the way in a victory. On Thursday, Medley relieved Davis in the first inning at Brevard and finished off a 4-3 win that gave the Pioneers a sweep of the Tornados.

Stinnard starred at the plate for the Indians in game two, going 3-for-3 with three singles and a run scored to account for half of Catawba's six hits in the game. Smith allowed three runs on five hits in 1 2/3 innings of relief, while Turner was tagged for four runs on five hits in 4 1/3 innings.