SALEM, W.Va. (April 24) – The Salem International University softball team clinched a berth in the Great Midwest Athletic Conference (G-MAC) Tournament with an 8-3 win over Kentucky Wesleyan on Sunday. The Panthers took each of the first three games to open the series.
The win improves the Tigers to 23-25 overall, 10-18 in league play. Despite defeating Ursuline three out of four times and having one more conference win, the Tigers are win percentage points behind the Arrows and will be awarded the No. 6 seed in the tournament field and a first-round date with regular-season champion Trevecca Nazarene. Ursuline did not make up any of its four games that were rained out against No. 2 seed Kentucky Wesleyan, whom Ursuline will face as the No. 5 seed.
Salem International raced out to a two run lead in the first inning, but the Panthers responded with two runs in the bottom of the first to even the score at 2-2 in the fourth game of the series.
The Tigers opened up a 6-2 lead with four runs in the third inning on RBI hits by freshman third baseman
Monika Garabedian (Weston, Fla./Cypress Bay), senior
Katie Chryssofos (Chapmanville, W.Va./Logan) and sophomore catcher
Hanna Crew (Canton, Ohio/Perry). Garabedian and Crew added a RBI apiece in the fifth inning to push the Salem lead to 8-2, which was more than enough to secure the necessary win.
Sophomore pitcher
Kayla Lynch (Painesville, Ohio/Riverside) improved to 14-11 on the season. She limited the Panthers to three runs (one earned) on 10 hits with a pair strikeouts in a complete-game effort.
Garabedian led the team with a double and a triple, two RBI and two runs scored, while Chryssofos and Crew each drove in a pair. Sophomore shortstop
Cass Alexy (Royersford, Pa./Spring-Ford) also chipped in a RBI in the win.
Had the Tigers not earned the win, the win percentage points would have put Ohio Valley into the tournament field as the No. 6 seed and left Salem International on the outside.
GAME 1: Kentucky Wesleyan 15, Salem International 4 (Final/5 innings)
The Panthers opened the series with a 15-4 loss in five innings in game one Saturday afternoon.
Chryssofos, the reigning G-MAC and ECAC Player of the Week, hit her lone home run of the series. She now sits at 19 home runs this season and 42 for her career, both school and conference records.
GAME 2: Kentucky Wesleyan 4, Salem International 0
The Tigers were limited to two hits in a game two 4-0 loss to end Saturday with two losses.
Lynch was saddled with the loss after yielding four runs on six hits with one strikeout.
GAME 3: Kentucky Wesleyan 8, Salem International 0 (Final/5 innings)
A four-run first inning by Kentucky Wesleyan was more than enough in its 8-0 win over Salem International in the first game on Sunday.
The Tigers were once again held to two hits in the loss. Sophomore
Katie Holestin (Covington, Va./Allegheny) fell to 8-14 this season after allowing six runs (three earned) on five hits with two strikeouts over two innings of work.
Salem International will wrap-up the regular-season with a non-conference doubleheader against Malone on Tuesday, April 26 with the first-pitch from Hope Field is set for 3 p.m.
