HICKORY, N.C. - The Newberry College softball team fell in a nine inning thriller to Lenoir-Rhyne, 6-5, in the South Atlantic Conference Tournament. The scarlet and gray rallied in the seventh inning to overcome a three-run deficit, but allowed two runs in the bottom of the seventh to send the game into extra innings.

Lenoir-Rhyne University's Brittany Cherry (Myrtle Beach, S.C.) delivered the game-winning, RBI single with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning to lift No. 22 L-R (36-10) over NC. The game served as an elimination game for the SAC Tournament. The Bears are the second seed in the tournament while Newberry is seeded fourth.

The game was originally scheduled to be played Friday night but was halted in the bottom of the third inning with Lenoir-Rhyne ahead by a 1-0 score due to lightning and rain and picked up at 10 a.m.

Lenoir-Rhyne opened the scoring in its half of the first inning on a solo home run by Sarah Atkins (Newport News, Va.), her team-leading 10th of the year.

Cherry, who finished with two hits and a team-high three runs batted in, helped L-R push the lead to 2-0 with a solo home run in the bottom of the fourth inning before Kat Rivers' (Roytson, Ga.) sacrifice fly in the bottom of the fifth pushed the margin to 3-0.

The game remained 3-0 until the top of the seventh inning when Newberry pinch hitter Jessica Reid (Walhalla, S.C.) tied the game with a three-run home run with two outs. The homerun was her first of the season and fourth of her career.

The scarlet and gray wasn't done though as it plated two more runs in the frame thanks to their two all-SAC first team selections. An RBI double from Kat Hammond (Irmo, S.C.) drove in the fourth run and was followed by a run-scoring single by Amanda Huckestein (Port Charlotte, Fla.).

Lenoir-Rhyne forced extra innings after scoring a pair of runs in its half of the seventh on Cherry's sacrifice fly and Erin Evans' (Fort Pierce, Fla.) RBI single with two outs to tie the game at five.

The contest remained tied until Cherry's second hit of the afternoon scored Noel Belk (Charlotte, N.C.) in the ninth inning.

L-R's Dawon Millwood (Hixson, Tenn.) improved to 18-3 with the win while Newberry's Huckestein fell to 18-6 as Newberry was eliminated from the tournament.

Leading Newberry in hits on the day was Huckestein with her 2-for-5 outing, which included one RBI.

NC will now have to wait for the selection for NCAA Division II Regionals on Sunday, May 3. In the recent ranking of the Southeast Region, Newberry was slated as the eighth squad. If Newberry does qualify for postseason play the first round of regionals will be played from May 8-10 on campus sites.