Hartsville, S.C.----Newberry College's
Hailey Drawe connected on a walk-off homer in the bottom of the eighth inning Thursday morning, leading the third-seeded Wolves to a 3-2 eight-inning victory over sixth-seeded Wingate University on day one of the 2017 South Atlantic Conference softball tournament. Newbery improves to 32-14 overall, while the Bulldogs fall to 25-24 on the season.
Drawe and
Morgan Sweeney each homered to lead the Newberry offense, while
Natalie Willis added a hit and a run scored for the Wolves.
Senior infielder
Misty Doran (Century, Fla.) homered to lead the Wingate offense, while freshman outfielder
Jessica VonCannon (Locust, N.C.) added an RBI for the Bulldogs. Senior outfielder
Olivia Smith (Chesapeake, Va.) was three-for-four with a run scored, while sophomore outfielder
Naomi Sapp (Guyton, Ga.) also collected three hits for the Bulldogs.
The Wolves got on the board in the bottom of the first when Willis reached on a fielder's choice, stole third, then scored on an error.
Wingate tied it in the top of the third. Smith started the rally with a one-out single, moved to second on a Sapp single, then scored on VonCannon's RBI single to make it 1-1.
The Bulldogs took the lead in the fourth when Doran connected on her team-best seventh homer of the year, a solo shot to center to make it 2-1.
Newberry tied it in the fifth when Sweeney led off the frame with a solo homer to left, making it 2-2.
That was the score in the bottom of the eighth, when Drawe ended things by starting the frame with a solo shot to left, making the final margin 3-2. The Bulldogs fall to 1-7 in extra-inning games this season.
Devon Morrison got the win, moving to 19-5 on the year. She allowed two runs on nine hits in eight innings, striking out three and walking two. Sophomore right-hander
Rachel Weidner (Greenville, N.C.) took the loss, falling to 13-13. She allowed three runs on seven hits in seven innings of work, striking out four and walking two.
The Bulldogs are back in action Friday, facing the loser of the Tusculum vs. Lenoir-Rhyne game at 10 a.m. in Hartsville.