No. 11 Brenau Tops Mobile In SSAC Tourney Opener

COLUMBUS, Ga-- The 18th-ranked University of Mobile softball team fell 8-7 in 8 innings to 11th-ranked Brenau University on day one of the 2011 SSAC Championships Thursday.

Mobile (31-16) will face Columbia College in an elimination game Friday at 10 am.

Jenny Shepard picked up the win for Brenau with 5 innings of 2-run, 4-hit relief, while Kamaron Strickland took the loss for Mobile in the complete game effort. She gave up 6 earned runs on 15 hits in 7.1 innings of work.

Erica Bracey went 2-3 with 3 RBI and a home run for Mobile, Mayles Rodriguez finished 2-5 with a solo homer, Jessica Swanson went 2-4 with 3 runs scored, and Ally Scott added a pair of hits.

Sally Duggan paced Brenau at the plate with a 3-4, 2 RBI performance, while Tiffany Schandera, Shepard, Kristina Reynolds and Jacqueline McWhorter each added a pair of hits.

Through three innings of play, the Lady Rams built a 5-2 lead, thanks to a 3-run 3rd inning. Brenau helped the cause with 3 errors, while Bracey produced a RBI-single.

Brenau cut that deficit to 5-4 with a 2-run 5th inning, but Mobile then came to bat in the top of the 7th and seemingly took control with two more tallies on Bracey's 2-run bomb to left. But, Brenau stepped to the plate in the bottom of the 7th and tied things up with a 3-run, 5-hit inning as five of the first six hitters hit safely. Shepard started the inning with a triple and McWhorter tied it up with a RBI-single.

The Lady Rams wasted a 2-out RBI in the top of the 8th and Brenau made them pay. Tiffany Schandera led things off with a double, was sacrificed to third and scored on Shepard's game-winning single up the middle.