SOFTBALL TAKES DIXIE REGULAR SEASON TITLE WITH TWO WINS OVER AVERETT

NEWPORT NEWS, Va. – The softball team claimed the Dixie Conference regular season championship with a pair of wins over Averett in the final regular season action at Destany Field.

The Lady Captains grabbed the title in a thrilling 2-1 win in the second game with Stacey Hundley driving home Crystal Bryant-Nelson with the game winner. That capped a gutty pitching performance by freshman Vanessa Gray who limited the Dixie’s top hitting team to three hits.

With one out Bryant-Nelson doubled to left and then advanced to third on a single by Donna Cerami. Hundley then ripped a single to center to score the winning run.

Gray allowed two hits and a run in the first inning, but then retired 18 of the next 20 batters she faced. One reached on an error and the other single, in the sixth inning, was erased on a double play.

CNU had tied the score in the second on back-to-back doubles by Renee Sigafoos and Jennifer Nowacki.

Hundley finished 3-4 with a double and Sigafoos was 2-3 with a double. Crystal Boyd had two of Averett’s three hits.

In the opener CNU scored an 8-2 win as Cerami held the Cougars to five hits. Hundley was 2-4, Tammi Perok 2-3 with a triple, Jen Harrell 2-4 with a double, a home run and two RBIs, Sigafoos was 2-4 with a double and two RBIs and Cerami was 2-3 with a triple and two RBIs.

The Lady Captains are 32-7 and will be the No. 1 seed in the Dixie Conference Tournament which takes place Saturday and Sunday in Rocky Mount, N.C. CNU will receive a first round bye and play the winner of a first round game at 1 p.m.at N.C. Wesleyan. Averett is 21-15 and 7-5.