Pair Of Top-10 Teams Knock Lady Rams Out Of SSAC Tourney

COLUMBUS, Ga-- The 24th-ranked University of Mobile softball team was knocked out of the 2012 SSAC Tournament by a pair of Top-10 teams Saturday. No. 6 William Carey run-ruled Mobile 8-0 in five innings in the opener and 9th-ranked Shorter defeated the Lady Rams 7-2 in an elimination game.

Mobile (30-17) will next compete at the 2012 NAIA Softball National Championship May 17-23 in Gulf Shores, Ala., at the Gulf Shores Sportsplex.

In the opener, the Lady Crusaders used five Mobile errors to score five unearned runs, and Kelsey Jo Smith limited Mobile to three hits in five innings of work.

The big blow came when WCU sent 12 hitters to the plate and scored seven runs in the 2nd inning. Three UMobile errors and three walks aided the inning. Kaitlyn Perry drove in the first runs with a two-run single and the final three runs scored with two outs in the inning without the benefit of a hit.

Kamaron Strickland took the loss after giving up two earned runs on two hits in 1 inning of work. Seven different Lady Saders scored runs and six different hitters drove in a run.

The Lady Rams and Shorter were locked in a 2-2 tie through four innings before the Lady Hawks put it away with two runs in the 5th and three runs in the 6th.

Mobile struck first in the game when Milagros Lozada launched a 2-run homer in the 1st, but Shorter came right back with single tallies in the 1st and 2nd to knot the game.

A double and hit batsman started the bottom of the 5th for Shorter, and Emily Clements singled home a pair two batters later for the winning runs. Shorter then scored three runs on four hits in the 6th to put the game away.

Kristen Little limited Mobile to two runs on four hits in a complete-game effort to pick up the win, while Brittney Kerr took the loss after giving up four runs on six hits in 4.1 innings.

Hannah Beth Baker finished 2-for-4 at the plate for Mobile, while Lozada finished 1-for-2 with the two-run homer. Charlsie Brome went 3-for-4 with two RBI and Clements finished 3-for-3 with four RBI for Shorter.