Salisbury, N.C. —- The Catawba College softball team celebrated Senior Day on Sunday, splitting a doubleheader vs Coker at Whitley Field, highlighted by Riley Tucker's walk-off, two-run homer in game one. The Catawba Indians move to 25-17 overall and 13-11 in the South Atlantic Conference, while the Cobras end their season at 22-24 and 6-18 in league play.
Tucker was 2-for-4 with a double and the walk-off home run, driving in three runs and scoring two more. Christina Brendle added a pair of hits and scored two runs. Tucker also claimed the league's batting title on the day, finishing the regular season with a .465 batting average.
Kary Hales hit an RBI single up the middle to give Catawba a 1-0 lead after the first inning. Tucker added to the lead in the third on an RBI double. Gallagher's sac fly put the Catawba Indians up 3-0 through three innings.
Coker's Caitlyn Wray got the Cobras on the board in the sixth and Brooklyn Strueness hit a go-ahead three-run homer in the top of the seventh to give Coker its first lead of the day, 4-3.
Brendle forced a one-out walk in the bottom half of the inning and Tucker ended it with her second go-ahead home run in as many weeks.
Alex Baquie got the win in relief, allowing three earned runs on four hits and striking out four. Jenae Fedewa was stuck with the loss, giving up five runs on seven hits and three walks in 6.1 innings.
Between games, Catawba celebrated senior Lauren Brickey for Senior Day. Brickey got the start in game two, but Wray soured her start with a two-run home run in the top of the first to give Coker a 2-0 lead early on.
Bri Gallagher singled up the middle in the third for one of her four hits in game two, scoring Tucker to cut the lead in half. She would later score on a wild pitch in the inning to tie up the game.
Kayla Oswell drove in the eventual go-ahead run in the fourth and Chloe Pelham added to the lead with an RBI single in the fifth inning.
Hannah Fisher earned the win in her final collegiate game, allowing two runs on six hits and three innings in 4.2 innings, while Tibby Hessian got the one-out save. Brickey was stuck with the loss, allowing three runs on four hits in 3.2 innings.
Catawba earned the number six seed in this week's South Atlantic Conference tournament, traveling to Hickory on Thursday, facing three-seed Lincoln Memorial at Lenoir-Rhyne.
