The Bobcats went 3-0 in tournament play.
BARTOW, Fla. – St. Thomas University swept through The Sun Conference Softball tournament competition defeating Warner University in the Championship Game 8-7 claiming their first Sun Conference Tournament Title. The Bobcats will now represent The Sun Conference at the 31st Annual NAIA Softball National Championship held March 19-25 in Gulf Shores, Ala.
After advancing through the winner’s bracket on Saturday the No. 1 seeded Bobcats had to await their Championship game opponent out of the elimination game between No. 2 Warner University and No. 3 SCAD Savannah. In that game, the Lady Royals scored four runs in each of the fifth and sixth innings to pull ahead of the Bees and held on for the 12-5 victory to advance.
In the Championship game, Bobcat All-Conference selection Brenda Emerson took the ball in the circle and opened the game with two scoreless frames for the home team. On offense, St. Thomas plated two runs on a homerun by Monica Garcia and a sac-fly from Denise Prieto in the second inning to take an early 2-0 lead. The Lady Royals responded putting five runners on base in the top of the third inning, but were only able to push one run across as they left the bases loaded. Danielle Fennimore drew a bases loaded walk to drive in Warner’s first run.
The Bobcats took a commanding 6-1 lead with three runs in the fifth inning all from a Brenda Emerson homerun. With six outs left in the game, the Lady Royals went to bat in the sixth inning trailing by five runs. When the inning was over, Warner had their first lead of the game after scoring six runs on just two hits. Danielle Fennimore had the big hit with two outs, a bases loaded triple off the top of the center field fence giving the Lady Royals the one run advantage. The score remained the same heading into the bottom of the seventh inning, as the Lady Royals had their sights set on the if-necessary second championship game. The heart of the Bobcats’ order had other plans however as they collected four straight hits to end the drama and the game 8-7. Carissa Albizu led off the inning with a double to deep right center field and later scored the tying run on Melissa King’s RBI-single. King would score the winning run two batters later when Danielle Borrelli lined a shot over the drawn in outfield to clinch the Tournament Championship for the St. Thomas. Senior Amanda Heyl picked up the win in relief for the Bobcats. Heyl tossed an inning and two thirds giving up two runs (one earned) on two hits. Lindsey Martin (5-4) took the loss in the circle for the Lady Royals with three and a third combined innings pitched with five runs allowed.
The Bobcat offense, which averaged nine runs a game in the tournament, tallied 12 hits in the tournament finale. The heart of the order did all the damage as all 12 hits came from batters two through seven, each with two hits apiece. Brenda Emerson went a perfect 2 for 2 with a homerun and three RBIs. Melissa King drove in a pair of runs batting 2 for 3 at the plate.
For the Lady Royals, Danielle Fennimore finished the game with four RBIs bringing her Sunday total to eight. Kaitlyn Wilbanks went 2 for 4 for the Lady Royals scoring two runs. Stephanie Bonalewicz and Katie Clemente both scored a run and went 1 for 3 at the plate for Warner University.