GREENEVILLE, Tenn. --- The Tusculum softball team pounded out 11 runs and 11 hits in the opener and Eliza Davis pitched a four-hit shutout in the night-cap as the Pioneers swept a South Atlantic Conference doubleheader over visiting Brevard Wednesday afternoon at Red Edmonds Field.
Emily Hester and Taylor Johnson each belted two-run homers to spark the Pioneers to an 11-1 win in five innings in game one, while Davis recorded eight strikeouts in a 5-0 victory in the second contest.
The Pioneers improve to 16-14 overall and 2-2 in league play, while the Tornados slip to 2-10, 0-4 SAC.
Game 1: Tusculum 11, Brevard 1 (5 innings)
Tusculum totaled 11 hits, including Sammie West's 3-for-3 performance as the Pioneers came out on top 11-1.
West's three base hits extended her string of consecutive hits to eight in a row, dating back to Saturday's second game at Lenoir-Rhyne where she went 5-for-5 with five singles and a double.
TC jumped out to 4-0 lead thanks to a three-run outburst in the first inning. West led off with a bunt single and later scored on Hester's RBI single up the middle. Johnson followed with her third home run of the season, a two-run shot to left field and a 3-0 TC lead.
In the second inning, West reached on a two-out triple and was driven in from there thanks to Delaney Guerrero's base hit.
The Tornados scratched a run in the top of the third inning when Ashleigh Ivey was hit by a Taylor Plemons' inside fast ball on the hands, with the bases loaded for BC's only run of the day.
Tusculum added a pair of unearned runs in the bottom of the inning and put the game out of reach with a five-run fourth inning, highlighted by Hester's two-run homer down the left field line.
Plemons scattered five hits over her five innings of work as he did not walk a batter and accounted for two strikeouts to improve her record to 8-7 on the year.
Game 2: Tusculum 5, Brevard 0
Tusculum took advantage of four Brevard errors and tied a program record with three sacrifice flies in the Pioneers' 5-0 victory in the night-cap.
The three sacrifice flies matches the record set against Tennessee Wesleyan on May 2, 1996.
Four of TC's five runs were unearned as the Pioneers could only muster five hits in the second game.
Hester accounted for a pair of RBI, both coming on her two sacrifice flies, which also ties a program record, shared with Angela Massengill, who achieved the feat against Virginia Intermont on Apr. 29, 1997.
West reached on a two-base error in the first, moved to second on a bunt and scored on Hester's first sacrifice. TC added a pair of unearned runs in the third thanks to back-to-back sacrifice flies from Guerrero and Hester.
In the fourth inning, Shelby Griffin posted a pinch-hit double and later scored on Allison Pate's pinch-hit single. TC plated its final run of the day in the fifth thanks to a Johnson RBI single.
Meanwhile, Davis worked out of early trouble in the first three innings as the Tornados stranded five runners, but she finished strong retiring 13 of the last 14 batters, including a string of 11 in row.
West was limited to a single, but scored three times, following her three-run performance in Wednesday's opener.
The Pioneers return to action on Saturday as they travel to Queens for a 1 p.m. doubleheader in Charlotte, North Carolina.
