Southwest Softball Team Defeats Motlow and Columbia for Top Four Finish

The Southwest softball team placed fourth in last week’s TCCAA/NJCAA Region VII Tournament, the best ever finish for the Lady Saluqis. They finished the season with a 31-31 overall record, marking the fifth straight season with at least 30 victories.

After losing to third-seed and eventual tournament runner-up Walters State 9-0 in a first round game on May 7, the Lady Saluqis came back to defeat Motlow State 4-3 later that night to stay alive in the tournament. Down 3-2 to Motlow State going into the bottom of the seventh inning, pinch-hitter Hollye Taylor’s two-out single scored Morgan Kirk with the tying run. Caroline Jacobs and Makayla Rice followed that up with consecutive base hits to load the bases before Heidi Molder reached on an error which scored pinch-runner Ashley Hobson with the winning run.

In the third round on May 8 against Columbia State, the Lady Saluqis scored nine runs in the first two innings (highlighted by first inning lead-off triple by Jacobs and a grand slam by Haylee Power) to take a 9-0 lead and held on for a 9-7 victory. Jacobs and Ali Hare each had three hits in the game while Rice and Stephanie Steen added two hits each. In a fourth round game later that night that began at nearly 11 p.m., Southwest lost for a second time in the tournament to Walters State, this time by a score of 10-0, eliminating the Lady Saluqis from the tournament and ending their season.

Southwest Baseball Team Finishes Fifth in Region Tourney

The Southwest baseball team came in fifth place in the TCCAA/NJCAA Region VII tournament in Chattanooga last week. Under first-year head coach George Sykes, the Saluqis finished the season with a 20-33 overall record, their best since the 2008 season.

After ending the TCCAA regular season in eighth place, Southwest faced ninth-place Roane State in a play-in game on May 6 with the winner advancing to the eight-team double elimination tournament. The Saluqis defeated Roane State 3-1 as winning pitcher Luke Deaton allowed only three hits and no earned runs through 8-1/3 innings. Southwest fell behind 1-0 in the sixth as Roane State scored the game’s first run on a throwing error. Then in the bottom of the seventh, the Saluqis tied the game as pinch-runner Sam Braswell scored on a double-steal (of home and second base) with Cameron Dougher, who later scored the go-ahead run on a single by Gadier Charriez.

The Saluqis lost a first-round tournament game on May 7 to regular season champion and top-seed Columbia State by a score of 6-2. Freshman catcher Brett Steadman had three hits in the game including two doubles. In a second-round elimination game against Jackson State, the Saluqis scored five runs in the bottom of the ninth inning to defeat the Generals 5-4. Down 4-0 going into the last inning, David West led off with a double followed by a single by Nick Reeves, a walk by Marcus Burk and a single by Christian Crawford that scored West with the Saluqis’ first run. Steadman then singled to drive in Reeves to make the score 4-2. After pinch-hitter Carlos Alegria reached on an error, scoring both Burk and Crawford to tie the game at 4-4, Alonzo Powell reached on another Jackson State error which scored Steadman with the winning run. In the third round, Southwest again faced Columbia State and was defeated 10-1 which ended the Saluqis’ season. Both Reeves and Crawford had two hits including a double and Powell added two singles. Reeves was the Saluqis’ top hitter in the four games with a total of seven hits including three in the play-in game against Roane State and Powell had six total hits, all singles.