Softball downed twice by Anderson

GREENEVILLE, Tenn. --- The Tusculum College softball team dropped a doubleheader to South Atlantic Conference-leading Anderson University on Wednesday afternoon at Red Edmonds Field. The Trojans won the first game 5-1 before taking the second contest 8-0.

The Pioneers fall to 14-16 overall and 4-8 in the SAC while Anderson improves its overall mark to 27-7 and 10-2 in the league. TC will return to the diamond on Friday when they play host to Newberry for a twinbill beginning at 4 p.m.

Treslyn Reese hit her ninth double of the season and drove-in her 24th run, but Anderson struck for five runs in the top of the fourth in a 5-1victory over the Pioneers.

Lauren Rudesheim (10-4) pitched a complete game with a pair of strikeouts while allowing just one earned run. Rachel Medley (5-9) took the loss despite no earned runs on seven hits in four innings of work. Cayla Cecil pitched three innings in relief and gave up just three hits.

Both Reese and Brooke Rhodes were 2-for-3 at the plate for the Pioneers, while Carolyn Williamson had a base hit and drew a walk. Molly Child led the Trojans with a pair of RBIs on two hits and Jessica Neidigh was 3-for-4 from the dish with an RBI.

After each team put zeros on the scoreboard in the first three innings, Anderson strung together five hits and capitalized on a Pioneer error to take a 5-0 advantage. The big blow of the inning came off the bat of Child who drove in two of the runs with a single.

The Pioneers got on the scoreboard in the bottom of the sixth. Rhodes had a one-out single and then came all the way around to score on Reese's double in the right center field gap. After Reese advanced to third on a single by Cecil, the potential rally was stopped when Robin Stoner lined out to Trojan shortstop Carli Hurtado and doubled off Reese at third.

Rudesheim capped off a steller pitching performance by sitting down TC 1-2-3 in the bottom of the seventh inning to finish off the victory.

Chelsea Jones threw a five-inning perfect game and Anderson completed the doubleheader sweep with an 8-0 victory in the second contest.

Jones (10-2) sat down all 15 Pioneer batters she faced and tallied five strikeouts. Eliza Davis (8-6) took the loss after allowing one earned run on six hits in three innings in the circle. Cecil pitched two innings in relief and allowed three earned runs.

The Trojans opened the game with a run in the top of the first inning before adding four more in the top of the third. Jones helped her own cause with an RBI single in the frame and Courtney Czentnar drove-in a pair with a single. The Trojans added three runs in the top of the fourth inning with two coming off the bat off Cailah Niles.