CU softball earns No. 5-seed in today's MSC Tournament
May 3—Mid-South Conference officials announced the MSC Softball Tournament bracket Saturday following the conclusion of the regular season with Cumberland earning the No. 5-seed.
The Phoenix will play 10-seed Tennessee Southern in a single-elimination game today for a chance to advance to the double-elimination bracket starting tomorrow.
The tournament begins today at South Warren High School in Bowling Green, Ky.
The first day of the tournament consists of a single elimination opening round with seeds 4-11.
The top three seeds earn a spot into the double-elimination bracket beginning on Thursday.
Cumberlands (Ky.) is the top seed in the tournament after earning the No. 1 seed with a 21-0 MSC record and a 42-3 overall record. Campbellsville (Ky.) (28-14-1, 16-8) earned the No. 2 seed while Freed-Hardeman (24-11, 15-8)
Fourth-seeded Georgetown (Ky.) (29-18, 13-11) gets the tournament underway today against No. 11 seed Pikeville (Ky.) (15-23, 4-19) at 11 a.m. No. 5 seed Cumberland (24-16, 13-11) takes on No. 10 seed Tennessee Southern (15-28, 5-19) at 1 p.m. The two winners will meet on Thursday at 4 p.m.
Seventh-seeded Bethel (21-20, 11-12) faces No. 8 seed Lindsey Wilson (Ky.) (19-22, 10-12) at 4 p.m. The winner will take on Campbellsville tomorrow at 11 a.m.
No. 6 seed Thomas More (Ky.) (25-17, 12-11) takes on No. 9 seed Shawnee State (Ohio) (19-24, 7-16) in the final opening round matchup at 6:30 p.m. Freed-Hardeman awaits the winner today at 1:30 p.m.
Thursday will also feature one elimination game at 6:30 p.m. Friday will have two winner's bracket games at 11 a.m. and 1:30 p.m.
Two more elimination games will also take place on Friday at 4 and 6:30 p.m.
The winner's bracket final is scheduled for noon Saturday. The loser's bracket semifinal and final will take place on Saturday at 2:30 and 5 p.m. Saturday.
The championship game is scheduled for noon Sunday with the if-necessary to follow at 2:30 p.m.
Phoenix finish regular season with 4-3 winCumberland closed out the regular season with a 4-3 win over Georgetown with timely hitting and clutch pitching on the backend from Bailey Griffith last Saturday at Billy Dee Ross Stadium.
The Phoenix (24-16, 13-11 Mid-South Conference) collected nine hits in the game. Ashley Evans went 2-for-3 with an RBI. Kenzie France notched two hits as well. Maddie Koczersut went 1-for-3 with a two-RBI double.
Both teams stranded a runner on second in the top of the first. Cooper had a three up, three down inning in the second.
Abby Chappell led off the inning with a single and moved up on a wild pitch. Hatfield followed with a single to left to put runners on the corners and Koczersut drove them in with a double in the gap.
Later in the inning, Ashley Evans singled home Koczersut for a 3-0 lead.
Georgetown scraped across one in the third. The Phoenix turned a 1-3-2 double play to strand runners in scoring position and hold the Tigers to just one. 3-1 Cumberland after three.
In the fourth, Kenzie France led off with a single. Two batters later, Ashley Evans slashed a single up the middle. With two outs, Ashtyn Blair delivered a clutch RBI-single to push the lead to 4-1.
Georgetown scored two in the fifth on a two-RBI double from Ashley Shelton to cut it to 4-3 and draw the end of the day for Cumberland starter Emily Cooper.
Bailey Griffith recorded the final six out allowing just one hit and one walk to get the save, her second save of the season.
Cooper earned the win in the circle to improve to 11-5 on the season. She gave up four hits and allowed the runs.
