AUGUSTA, Ga. --- The Tusculum University softball team split its second doubleheader in as many days when the Pioneers faced the Augusta Jaguars on Sunday (Feb. 6).

Tusculum (2-2) opens up its home slate with three-straight series at Red Edmonds Field. Concord kicks off the home stand on Friday (Feb. 11) at 2 p.m.

Game 1: Tusculum 3, Augusta 1
Emily Sappington continues to etch her name into the program record. The left-hander struck out 13 Jaguars to tie the single game mark, which was set back in 2005.by Monica Funigiello. Anna Alloway and Kiley Longmire drove in the runs for the victory.

With two outs in the opening frame, Alloway hammered the first pitch she saw over the left field wall. It was the 26th of Alloway's career, needing four more to hold the program record.

Sappington tricked three of the four batters she faced in the first to swing at strike three. The lone outlier was one of the two hits allowed by the junior. She also struck out the side in the second. Incredibly, the first seven outs for Augusta in the contest were via strikeout.

Kallyn Newport scored the eventual winning run in the fourth. After reaching on a fielder's choice, she was in scoring position thanks to a Hannah Hughes walk. Longmire stepped into the batter's box and sent a screamer down the left field line for a double to plate the lead runner.

Augusta got a run back in the fifth on an infield hit to score a Jag from third.

Game one's final run happened in the sixth inning. Katelynn Hodges reached on a fielder's choice and stole second. Longmire drove another pitch into the outfield, buying Hodges enough time to cross home plate.

Sappington (2-0), in addition to her strikeout total, allowed two hits, one run, and gave up a pair of walks on 122 pitches.

Game 2: Augusta 11, Tusculum 1 (5 innings)
Three big innings by the Jaguars doomed the Pioneers. Tusculum only tallied three hits in the nightcap as well: Chloe Freischmidt, Hodges, and Hughes.

TU has scored in the first inning in all four games thus far in 2022. Freischmidt's hit was an infield single and Claire Smeltzer followed up with a walk. Hodges sent a single up the middle as the catcher scampered home for the Pioneers' lone run of the contest.

Hughes notched a double in the second, while Hodges walked and Ireland Cavanaugh reached on a fielder's choice in the fourth as the only other base runners for Tusculum.

Augusta scored once in the first, three in the second, four in the fourth, and three in the final frame.

Three pitchers were used in the loss. Kendall Durard (0-2) got the start, but could not get out of the second inning. Four runs crossed the plate, one earned, on three hits and two walks. The graduate student struck out one. Cavanaugh made her TU debut and lasted the longest of the trio. She went 2.1 innings, allowing four earned runs on five hits (two home runs), one walk, and two strikeouts. Keylon Reynolds was the final pitcher for Tusculum. She managed two groundouts before relenting the game-ending homer.