Katie Brennan's two-out single in the bottom of the seventh capped a two-run rally and gave Tusculum College the South Atlantic Conference softball championship with a dramatic 4-3 victory over Anderson University Saturday afternoon at Red Edmonds Field.

The Pioneers (29-16, 13-5 SAC) won their first-ever SAC title and will be the top seed in next week's Food Lion South Atlantic Conference Tournament in Salisbury, N.C. The Trojans (35-11, 12-6 SAC) entered the day with a one-game lead over the Pioneers in the SAC standings, but fell into a tie when Tusculum posted a 2-0 victory in the opener behind a four-hitter from Kelly King.

Tusculum will close out its regular season Sunday afternoon with home games against Virginia Intermont at 2 p.m. and Milligan at 4 p.m. at Red Edmonds Field. The Pioneers will play eighth-seeded Lincoln Memorial on the opening day of the SAC Tournament on Thursday at 4:30 p.m. at Catawba.

Game 1: Tusculum 2, Anderson 0
(Box Score)

King (13-6) threw her seventh shutout of the season to tie the program record set by Christa Shaw in 1994 and matched by teammate Elizabeth Johnson in 2011. She scattered four singles and struck out two against a potent Trojans lineup that entered the game with a .341 team batting average.

The Pioneers scored their runs in the second inning on an RBI double by Kaytlin Stroinski and in the sixth on an RBI single by Brennan, all coming off Trojan starter Bailey Smith (16-6).

After stranding two runners in the bottom of the first, the Pioneers drew first blood in the bottom of the third. With two outs and no one on base, Miranda Beeler reached on an infield single and scored when Stroinski drove a full-count pitch into the left-center gap.

Meanwhile, the Trojans left two runners on base in both the third and fourth innings, but did not have another baserunner after a two-out single in the fifth by Danielle Swygert.

In the sixth, Stroinski led off with a walk and advanced to second on a sacrifice by Lindsey Umberger. Brennan then delivered a single to left-center field that drove home Stroinski with an insurance run. King finished off the Trojans in the top of the seventh, retiring the side on three popups to bring the Pioneers into a tie atop the SAC standings.

Stroinski finished the game 2-for-2 with a walk, a run scored and an RBI for the Pioneers, and was the only player on either team to collect more than one hit in the contest. Swygert led Anderson at the dish by going 1-for-2 with a walk.

Smith allowed six hits and two earned runs for the Trojans, walking one and failing to strike out a batter.

Game 2: Tusculum 4, Anderson 3
(Box Score)

The Pioneers trailed 3-2 entering the bottom of the seventh, but tied the game as Alix Kruel led off with a single and came all the way around to score on a double to right-center by Williamson. After a sacrifice by Beeler and a walk to Stroinski left runners at the corners, Umberger grounded out for the second out of the inning.

Brennan then came up with the biggest hit of her career as she lined a 1-0 pitch cleanly into center field, as Williamson crossed the plate with the conference-winning run to set up a pileup of happy Pioneers along the first-base line.

The Trojans had erased a 1-0 deficit with three runs in the fourth inning, but could not tack on any insurance. Anderson left 11 runners on base in the game, including two on in the first, third, fourth, fifth and sixth innings.

King started the second game for the Pioneers and got out of trouble in the first and third innings thanks to solid defensive plays by Umberger at short and Kruel at second.

Anderson starter Lauren Bell set down the first six Tusculum batters over the first two innings, but ran into trouble in the third as Nicole Ball led off the frame with a home run to deep right-center field. The blast was the third of the season for Ball and gave the Pioneers a 1-0 lead.

Tusculum nearly added to its lead later in the inning, as singles by Leah Powell and Kruel put runners at first and second with no outs. Stroinski then just missed hitting a three-run homer the opposite way down the line in right before lining out to center to end the frame.

Anderson finally broke through against King in the fourth on an RBI double by Samantha Young and a two-run single by Charlotte Sieber, the latter coming off Johnson, who came on in relief of King.

The Pioneers left runners on base in both the fourth and fifth innings against Bell, while Johnson was able to get out of jams in both the fifth and sixth innings by retiring the side on popups to Umberger.

In the bottom of the sixth, Umberger singled with one out and Brennan reached on a throwing error. Paige Sneed then roped a double to right-center to bring home Umberger and cut the Anderson lead to 3-2. With the tying run at third and the go-ahead run on second and one out, Bell set down the Pioneers on a strikeout and groundout to preserve the Trojans' one-run lead.

Anderson put its first two runners on in the top of the seventh, but a line drive to Ball at third was turned into a double play across to Stroinski at first. Johnson then got Young on a humpback liner to Kruel at second to keep the Pioneers within a run heading to the decisive bottom of the seventh.

Kruel was 2-for-3 with a run scored for the Pioneers, while Williamson was 2-for-4 with the tying RBI and game-winning run. Umberger was also 2-for-4 with an RBI as Tusculum finished the game with a 10-7 advantage in hits over Anderson.

Johnson (13-10) pitched 3 2/3 scoreless innings of relief to earn the win for the Pioneers, allowing four hits and three walks but no runs. King was charged with three runs (two earned) on three hits in 3 1/3 innings.

Bell (19-5) surrendered four runs (three earned) and struck out three for the Trojans, who received 2-for-3 performances at the plate from Swygert and Bri Cason in game two. Laura Jansky also reached base twice on two walks, and Molly Child walked and was hit by a pitch in four plate appearances.