Wingate, N.C.----The top-seeded and 16th-ranked Wingate University Bulldogs punched their ticket to the SAC softball championship series and earned hosting duties, prevailing 12-3 over Carson-Newman University Saturday afternoon after the Eagles forced a final game with a 6-0 victory in the opener. Wingate will now host a best of three series Wednesday and Thursday, welcoming Lincoln Memorial to town with game one set for a p.m. Wednesday. The Bulldogs are 43-12 on the season.

The Eagles started their Saturday by defeating Newberry in an elimination game. Carson-Newman then had to pick up two wins against the Bulldogs to advance to the championship series. The Eagles took the opener 6-0 to set up a final game for the weekend.

#16 WINGATE 12 CARSON-NEWMAN 3 (5 Innings)

KEY STATS

- Wingate out-hit Carson-Newman 10-8
- Each team had one extra-base hit; the 'Dogs had the lone homer
- The Eagles left seven on base; the Bulldogs stranded six
- Carson-Newman committed four of the six errors in the game
- WU pitching struck out two and walked one; C-N had four strikeouts and four walks, hitting two batters

KEY BULLDOGS

- Heaven Maness was two-for-three with a grand slam and seven RBI
- Savanna Brooks drove in two runs and scored twice
- Ragan Liles added two hits and a pair of RBI
- Kaylee Hobgood went two-for-two with an RBI and two runs scored
- Jillian Thomas contribute da hit and three runs scored
- Danielle Kirchhofer had two hits and a pair of runs scored
- Hali Scott registered a hit and scored a run
- Kirchhofer went 4 1/3 innings to earn the win, striking out two

SECOND INNING

- An RBI single from Mary Vandergriff gave C-N a 2-0 lead

THIRD INNING

- A Thomas single, followed by a walk and hit batter loaded the bases
- A two-run single from Maness tied it at two

FOURTH INNING

- The Bulldogs exploded for six runs in the fourth
- Singles from Scott and Kirchhofer, along with a C-N error loaded the bases
- Hobgood's RBI single put the 'Dogs on top 3-2
- Brooks was then hit by a pitch, plating Kirchhofer to give WU a two-run lead
- Maness followed with the big blow, a grand slam to left to make it 8-2

FIFTH INNING

- Wingate scored five more runs in the fifth
- A Kirchhofer single, along with an error and a walk loaded the bases
- Brooks and Maness drew back-to-back walks to make it 10-2
- Liles followed with a two-run single to give the Bulldogs a 10-run lead

WRAPUP

- Kirchhofer got the win, moving to 1-0 on the year
- Making just her second appearance of the year, she allowed one earned run on seven hits in 4 1/3 innings
- The senior struck out two and walked one to pick up the win
- NicKolette Ferguson took the loss, allowing eight runs on six hits in 1 2/3 innings of work

UP NEXT

- The Bulldogs will host the SAC championship series this upcoming week, May 3 and 4
- Wingate and LMU will play a best of three series to determine the SAC tourney champion
- Game one is slated for 1 p.m. on Wednesday
- The second game is Thursday at 12 p.m.
- If the series is tied, a final game will take place Thursday at 2:30 p.m.
- Every game will be held at the WU Softball Complex