NEWBERRY, S.C. - The second-seeded Lenoir-Rhyne College Bears put together a seven-run fourth inning en route to an 8-0 victory over the seventh-seeded Newberry College Lady Indians in the first round of the 2008 Food Lion South Atlantic Conference Softball Tournament at the Newberry Softball Complex on Thursday.

Lenoir-Rhyne (42-10) was led by a powerful pitching performance from Meredith O'Connor (30-7) who picked up her 30th win of the season by striking out nine and allowing no hits in the five-inning game.

Newberry drops to 19-24 overall and will play sixth-seeded Catawba in the consolation bracket at Newberry High School on Friday at 9:30 a.m. Kristen Hicks (7-6) was tagged with the loss, allowing all eight runs - none of which were earned - on seven hits in 3.1 innings.

Despite being no-hit, the Lady Indians had the majority of the scoring chances in the first two innings, as O'Connor but five runners on base via walks with one out. However, she was able to end the innings with strikeouts both times, as Newberry stranded two runners in the first and left bases loaded in the second.

Lauren Johnson's RBI single up the middle in the bottom of the second brought home Kat Rivers for what turned out to be the only run the Bears would need.

Lenoir-Rhyne sent 11 batters to the plate in the bottom of the fourth, as a pair of Newberry errors assisted the Bears' rally. Noel Belk, Karie Pushard, Taylor Queen, Rivers and Leah Krohn all recorded RBIs in the frame.

With the win, Lenoir-Rhyne advances in the winners' bracket, where the Bears will meet up with third-seeded Wingate at Newberry College on Friday at 9:30 a.m.

Lenoir-Rhyne 8, Newberry 0
Apr 17, 2008 at Newberry, S.C.
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Newberry............ 000 00 -  0  0  3      (19-24)
Lenoir-Rhyne........ 010 7X -  8  7  0      (42-10)
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Pitchers: Newberry - Kristen Hicks; Jesse Groves(4). Lenoir-Rhyne - M. O'Connor.
Win-M. O'Connor(30-7)  Loss-Kristen Hicks(7-6)  T-1:20  A-375
Complete Box Score