ROCK HILL, S.C. – Lenoir-Rhyne’s bats were blazing with two outs in the sixth inning, as the Bears scored five runs and put a premature run-rule finish on the game, defeating Newberry 12-4 in the elimination bracket of the 2005 Food Lion South Atlantic Conference Softball Tournament at Cherry Park Friday afternoon.  Lenoir-Rhyne moves to 35-15-1 and into a Saturday matchup against the loser of Presbyterian-Wingate at noon.  Newberry College finishes its season at 17-31.

Lenoir-Rhyne’s Leah Krohn (Taylorsville, N.C.) started the scoring with a double to left center, driving in Taylor Queen (Conover, N.C.) who reached on a leadoff double.  Chrissy Lunsford (Tyrone, Ga.) and Vicki Perry (Snow Camp, N.C.) produced RBI singles, and Jessica Luper put the exclamation point on the win with the two-RBI double.

After the Bears jumped ahead 3-0 in the first, Newberry’s Sarah Lynch (Pompano Beach, Fla.) evened the score with a three-run dinger to left field, her second of the day.  L-R put three more on the board in the third, as Perry and Brooke Starnes (Conover, N.C.) turned in RBIs.  Krohn drove in another run in the fourth to make it 7-3, advantage Bears.  Newberry attempted a comeback in the fifth, scoring a run off Courtney Lindler’s (Irmo, S.C.) single, but could get no closer than 7-4.  The Bears’ five-run sixth inning clinched the final margin.

L-R pitcher Kristin Duvall (Pasadena, Md.) earned her 12th victory of the year, while Christina Kirby (Delmar, Del.) took the loss for Newberry.

The Presbyterian-Wingate contest was postponed due to heavy rains and lightning and will be finished at 11 a.m. in the morning.  PC leads Wingate 7-1 with two outs in the bottom of the seventh.