HARROGATE, Tenn. --- Lenoir-Rhyne's Lauren Rakes recorded 13 strikeouts and tossed a no-hitter to lead the second-seeded Bears to a 6-0 victory over No. 7-seed Tusculum in the opening day of the 2022 South Atlantic Conference Softball Championship.
The two-day, eight-team single-elimination tournament is being held at Dorothy Neely Field and hosted by Lincoln Memorial University.
The Bears, who are ranked 23rd in NCAA Division II, advances to Saturday's semifinal against the winner of the Wingate / Carson-Newman match-up. The Pioneers end their season at 27-21.
Rakes pitches the second postseason no-hitter in Lenoir-Rhyne history and the 20th overall for the Bears. Tusculum is no-hit for the first time since 2016 against Wingate.
Rakes worked around a pair of walks and posted 13 strikeouts in her 117-pitch performance as she didn't allow a runner past first base while retiring the side in order in five or her seven innings of work.
It was a pitchers' duel early between Rakes and Tusculum starter Emily Sappington, who were both named to this year's All-Conference Team. The duo tends to bring out the best against each other. In a regular-season meeting last season, Sappington tossed a 10-inning no-hitter against Rakes and the Bears in a 1-0 TU victory.
On Friday, Sappington retired the first five batters of the game before Lora Beth Wood recorded a two-out hit in the second inning.
The Bears would erupt for five innings in the bottom of the fourth as 10 L-R batters went to the plate. Lenoir-Rhyne accounted for six of its nine hits in the contest in the frame along including a two-run triple by Cassidy Wall and RBI singles from Rakes, Kendall Osborne and Savannah Moorefield.
L-R added a run in the sixth inning on Katelyn Rackard's solo homer to right field.
The Pioneers got a runner aboard in the seventh inning when Chloe Freischmidt drew her second walk of the game. TU's Anna Alloway made a bid to break up the no-hitter with a deep fly ball to left field, but the ball was caught on the warning track for the second out of the inning. Rakes would complete the no-hitter as she got Sappington on an infield pop up to end the game.
Alloway finishes her storied Tusculum career as the program's all-time leader in home runs (30) and total bases (370). Playing in her 200th and final game as a Pioneer, the two-time All-SAC honoree will leave TU ranked in the program's top-10 in at bats (637 – 3rd), hits (225 – 3rd), doubles (51 – 4th), RBI (139 – T5th), batting average (.353 – 7th), slugging percentage (.581 – 7th), on-base percentage (.396 – 8th) and sacrifice flies (8 – T2nd).
Senior outfielder Mya Maddox also competed in her final game in the Black & Orange. The 2022 All-SAC third team selection was the SAC regular-season statistical champion in steals per game averaging 0.78 per contest, which is listed 11th in NCAA II. She led the Pioneers this year with 56 hits, 46 runs scored, four triples, 15 walks and 36 steals. Her .389 batting average was also tops for the club. In just two seasons with the Pioneers, she finished in TU's career top-10 in batting average (.343 – 9th), on-base percentage (.428 – 2nd), hit-by-pitch (12 – T6th) and stolen bases (55 – 4th).
The Pioneers wrap up their fourth consecutive winning campaign and fifth in the last six years.
