HARTSVILLE — The Newberry College softball team saw its season come to a close after falling to Coker 9-7 in eight innings Saturday afternoon at Byerly Park in the 2017 South Atlantic Conference Championship.

Newberry finishes its season 33-16 and records the most conference wins in program history with a 14-6 record. This year’s finish was the team’s best since 2010.

The Wolves were rewarded with a school-record five all-South Atlantic Conference selections, including a program-best three first-team honorees.

Natalie Willis and Rachel Marion led Newberry with two hits apiece. Seven other Wolves recorded a hit in the contest. Morgan Sweeney notched two RBIs and five other Newberry players collected an RBI.

It was back and forth to begin the contest as the two teams scored three runs apiece. Sweeney, Hailey Drawe and Marion collected RBIs. Haley Simonds was robbed of a home run in the second after Kelsi Bachmann climbed the fence and brought the ball back with a perfectly timed leap.

Newberry broke the game open in the sixth, scoring four runs on five hits and an error. The inning was extended after a two-out error by the Coker (40-16) shortstop. Daphne Peyton, Sweeney, Allison Van Atta and Christina Linton all recorded RBIs.

Coker responded in the bottom of the frame scoring three runs on three hits. The Cobras tied the contest at 7-7 in the bottom of the seventh. Devon Morrison stranded runners on second and third to send the game to extra innings.

In the fourth extra innings affair of the SAC Championship and the second that featured Newberry, the Wolves could not put a runner on-base in the eighth. Taylor Barcomb hit a home run to give Coker the 9-7 victory over Newberry. The Cobras advance to face the loser of Caron-Newman/Lenoir-Rhyne later today.

Morrison ends her Newberry career with a no-decision after tossing 7.0 innings, striking out five batters. She finishes with a 19-6 overall record. Emily Marchbanks was dealt the loss to move to 12-10 on the season.

Barcomb finished 4-for-5 at the plate with three RBIs for Coker. Christine Carver earned the win in the circle after pitching 2.1 scoreless innings.

Newberry suffered a tough 3-2 defeat to second-seeded Lenoir-Rhyne on Friday morning at Byerly Park.

Willis
https://www.newberryobserver.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/web1_Willis.jpgWillis

Simonds
https://www.newberryobserver.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/web1_Simonds.jpgSimonds

Marion
https://www.newberryobserver.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/web1_Marion.jpgMarion

Staff Report