Badgers Push Valdosta State to the Limit in Region Championship

Spring Hill refused to go down without a fight in the NCAA Division II Softball South 1 Region Championship, as the Badgers rallied with single runs in the sixth and seventh innings to send No. 16 Valdosta State into extra innings. Unfortunately for the Badgers, Valdosta State would plate the game-winning run in the 11th inning to earn a, 3-2, win in Pensacola, Fla., ending SHC's historic season.
Hannah Brenton pitched the distance for SHC, throwing 168 pitches in all. The sophomore allowed only eight hits and three walks while striking out five batters and two earned runs.
The Blazers scored their first run after a one-out walk, a stolen base, and a double. The Badgers would get out of the rest of the inning unscathed, but VSU held a 1-0 lead.
SHC (30-21) had opportunities throughout the early stages of the game, with the best coming in the top of the fourth when Cassidy Mehr reached on a fielding error and Caroline Hart reached on an infield hit. A ground out would move the runners into scoring position, but a strikeout ended a nine-pitch at-bat and ended the top of the fourth.
In the fourth, the Blazers (36-17) used a sacrifice squeeze bunt to push their second run across. A strikeout would end the inning one batter later, but the Blazers were up 2-0.
The Badgers would get a run back in the sixth. Mehr singled to center to start the inning, with Mehr giving way to Olivia Brown who would pinch run. After a strikeout, Carlisle Jamison stepped in with one out in the inning and took a 2-1 offering down the line in left for an RBI double that plated Brown. The Badgers wouldn't score again in the inning, but the VSU lead was sliced in half.
Down to their final at-bat, the Badgers would get the ball in play and put pressure on a nervous VSU defense. Carmen Byrd would start the seventh by reaching on a fielding error to put the tying run on base. Elise Caruso then laid down a sacrifice bunt, but when the throw to first went wildly towards the fence, Byrd raced to third and Caruso took second. Delaney Thomas then stepped up and delivered an RBI single to right that scored Byrd, giving the Badgers a 2-2 tie. The next three Badgers at the plate would get the ball in play, but not in a position where Caruso could make it home from third, keeping the score level.
VSU would get a hit but no runs in the bottom of the seventh, sending the game to extra innings. The Blazers mounted a threat in the eighth, but a fly out ended the inning with two runners on base. Byrd would single to start the ninth for SHC, but the Badgers wouldn't be able to move the SHC first baseman along the base paths. In the bottom of the ninth, an SHC error allowed the Blazers to get two runners into scoring position with two out in the inning; however, Brenton would get a pop out back to the circle to end the inning.
Both teams would go in order in the 10th inning. After SHC went down in order in the 11th, the Blazers used two singles and a throwing error to get two runners in scoring position with no one out. The Blazers tried a squeeze play again to score the winning run, but the bunt was missed, and the Badgers would knock out one runner in a run down. However, a solid drive to the wall in center would serve as a walk-off single for the Blazers as VSU took a 3-2 win.
The Badgers finished with 10 hits, with Byrd and Jamison combining for five. SHC would out-hit VSU 10-8 for the afternoon. Both teams were charged with three errors in the game. Brenton's 10.1 innings in the circle were a career-high; the total also marked the longest outing for an SHC pitcher since Caroline Sagrera went 12 innings in a 7-6 win over Mobile Mar. 22, 2016.