HARROGATE, Tenn. - The Newberry College softball team saw a late lead disappear in the opener and was unable to recover from an early deficit in the nightcap of a South Atlantic Conference sweep at the hands of the Lincoln Memorial Lady Railsplitters at Dorothy Neely Field on Saturday afternoon.

Newberry completes the regular season with a 28-20 overall record and 9-13 South Atlantic Conference record. The Wolves tied Anderson for seventh in the SAC standings and will take the No. 7 seed to the SAC Tournament in Hartsville by virtue of a sweep over AU in March. The Wolves will face second-seeded Catawba at 12:30 p.m. Thursday in the first round of the double elimination tournament.

GAME ONE: Lincoln Memorial 6, Newberry 5

The Wolves conceded three unearned runs with two outs in the bottom of the seventh as the hosts earned the opening win of the day.

• Maude McCourry went 2-for-3 with a run scored. In the circle, she had no decision after giving up five runs - three earned - on five hits and two walks, striking out three in six-plus innings.
• Christina Linton and Allison Van Atta each drove in two runs in a big second inning.

Jeri Loffler led off the second inning by reaching on an error and the bases were loaded when McCourry singled and Mallory Gerndt was hit by a pitch. Van Atta singled up the middle to drive home a pair and a two-out bloop single to right by Linton made it a 4-0 game.

LMU cut the lead to 4-3 with a pair of doubles in the third, but McCourry started the manufacturing of a run in the sixth to push the Wolves' lead back to two runs. She led off the inning with a single through the left side, moved to second on a passed ball and went to third on a sacrifice bunt. Natalie Willis laid down a perfect squeeze bunt single to score the senior and make it a 5-3 game.

LMU's seventh inning rally started with an error and a single, but Newberry thre runners out at home on consecutive fielder's choices to move within one out of victory. However, a single and an outfield error scored the tying runs. A softly hit single to center with a runner on second pushed the winning run across for the hosts.

GAME TWO: Lincoln Memorial 9, Newberry 6

The Lady Railsplitters carried the momentum of the late rally in the opener to the early innings of the nightcap and held off the Wolves to pick up the sweep.

• McCourry and Gerndt each went 2-for-3 in the contest.
• Gerndt, Van Atta, Hailey Drawe and Morgan Sweeney each drove in a run.

A pair of wild pitches and an error by the Wolves helped LMU score two runs in the first inning and a three-run homer by Jennifer Moose in the second inning put the Wolves in an early 5-0 hole.

Gerndt and Van Atta brought two runs back for Newberry with back-to-back two-out RBI singles after an LMU error, making it a 5-2 game. The hosts responded with a four-run outburst in the bottom of the fifth and were one out away from a mercy rule victory, but the Wolves' defense left the bases full of 'Splitters with a 9-2 lead.

McCourry led the sixth off with an infield single and back-to-back walks by Gerndt and Van Atta loaded the bases. Sweeney drove in a run by reaching on a fielder's choice and runners safe at every base. Loffler reached on a pinch-hit error that scored two and Drawe's RBI sacrifice bunt cut the lead to 9-6, but the Wolves would end the inning with the tying run at the plate.

A walk and an error with two outs in the top of the seventh once again brought the tying run to the plate, but the Wolves were unable to find the decisive hit, stranding nine runners on base throughout the game.