Bears Finish Regular Season On High Note; Sweep Presbyterian
5/8/2011 12:00:00 AM | Softball
CLINTON, S.C. – With the Atlantic Sun Tournament bracket already solidified, the Mercer softball team made its final preparations for postseason play on Sunday by sweeping Presbyterian College, 2-1 and 6-0 and ended the 2011 regular season.
The Bears will now quickly turn their attention to the No. 4 seed Campbell Camels as the teams open up the A-Sun tournament on Wednesday. Mercer comes in as the No. 5 seed and will look for a measure of revenge as the Camels swept the season series back in March.
Mercer continued their impressive late-season stretch on Sunday, finishing out the 2011 regular season having won seven out of their last 10. The victories also moved the Bears overall record to 30-22(10-10 A-Sun) on the year, marking the third season in the last five in which the team has amassed at least 30 victories.
Mercer combined for 14 hits in the two games and was equally impressive inside the circle, allowing just one run and eight hits on the day.
GAME ONE
In game one, the Bears were able to come away with the 2-1 victory thanks to some clutch hitting and an imposing pitching performance by senior Jenni Holtz.
Holtz came in relief of junior Kassie Bailey as the Bears were clinging to a 2-1 lead in the bottom of the fourth. Bailey allowed a leadoff homerun to start the fourth, but Holtz was able to bail her out of the inning and maintain the lead. From there, Holtz did not allow another hit and struck out eight batters in all for her third save of the season.
The Bears took the lead in the top half of the fourth when designated player, junior Kristin Marko drove in a pair of runs on single to left field. The two runs gave Marko a final tally of 27 RBI on the year, good enough for second on the team.
The two runs proved to be enough as Holtz worked the final 3.2 innings for the save. Four other Bears had hits in game one including sophomore Sarah Santana, junior Tiffany Phillips, freshman Randi Rea and junior Jenny Goodman.
GAME TWO
The Bears offense came alive in game two, exploding for six runs on nine hits in the shutout. Mercer scored a run in five of the seven innings for their 30th win of the season.
Reigning A-Sun Player of the Week, junior Sara Stukes led the way for the Bears lacing her team-high seventh home run of the season in the top of the second to give the Bears a 2-0 lead. Stukes finished game two going 2-for-3 at the plate with two RBI and a run scored.
Mercer added a run in the fifth, two in the sixth and one in the seventh while senior pitcher Kari Chambers worked through five innings for her career-high 15th win of the season. Chambers allowed just two hits and struck out six to move her season total to an even 160, which is also a career high.
Holtz also made a relief appearance in game two, but did not work a total of three innings and had a sizable enough lead to not record the save. She finished the day with 5.2 innings pitched and 11 strikeouts.
The Bears will have a short turnaround as the team heads to Spartanburg, S.C. for the A-Sun Tournament on Wednesday. Game time for the Bears first round matchup against No. 4 Campbell is slated for 2 p.m. on the campus of USC Upstate.
