WINTER HAVEN, Fla. - With a huge feather in their cap after a dominant 5-0 win over No. 14 and No. 2 seed Evangel, the Lady Eagles reset to prepare to take on the host seed and No. 3 team in the land in Southeastern on Tuesday morning for the third time this season.
With shutout wins, No. 25 Faulkner and No. 13 Mobile are the only two SSAC teams to win their first-round matchups with No. 12 William Carey, UT Southern and Blue Mountain Christian all dropping their contests in the final inning.
The winner's bracket matchup closely mirrors the one on Monday afternoon against the Valor, as Faulkner will likely go up against Maria Zelenka, the repeat Sun Conference Pitcher of the Year, who owns the sixth-best ERA in the nation with a 1.11 and leads the bracket with a 0.60 WHIP. Zelenka earned a save in the opening game yesterday against Dillard with three strikeouts in 1.2 innings to make the lone run scored in the first inning hold up as the final score. Emma Vickers earned the win with five hits and five strikeouts in 5.1 innings of work. The Fire lead the NAIA with a 1.13 team ERA.
The Lady Eagles got the best of Maddy Meierer on Monday, the fifth-best pitcher in the NAIA who is now up to a 1.10 ERA from a pregame 0.98, with eight hits and four earned runs to prop up Reece Patterson's masterful complete game. She is now 12th in the NAIA with a 1.33 season ERA and second in the bracket with a 0.857 WHIP; she is tied with Zelenka and Vickers with a bracket-leading 0.00 ERA. However, she was unable to save an early 2-0 deficit against the Fire in February despite shutting them out for the last 5.2 innings.
Faulkner has four of the five RBIs of the Opening Round so far, with two from Addyson Jarman and one apiece from Abby Terrell and Sarah Williams.
In addition to the unyielding pitching, the offense may meet its match with Sun Player of the Year Raylei McKinney, who is tenth in the NAIA with a .486 batting average. Erica Ramsey hit .667 against Dillard yesterday with the team's sole RBI and is in a four-way tie with Williams for a bracket-leading two hits.
However, the Lady Eagles are expected to start All-SSAC Second Team and All-Freshman Team honoree Abrianna Davis, who already has a win over the Fire this year, logging a complete game with four hits and three strikeouts in the back end of the neutral-site doubleheader while keeping McKinney to 0-3 on the day. Williams was 3-3 that day as Jarman, Kelbi Johnson and Abbie Davis each batted in a run.
The Fire are 45-7 and 22-2 in Sun Conference play as Southeastern dispatched Dillard in a 1-0 defensive clash in the first game. The two split the February neutral site series in Hattiesburg for Faulkner's first win over the Fire in five tries.
Led by seventh-year head coach Kayla Watkins, the third coach in the program's 14-season history, the Fire fell in the Sun Conference Championship final to No. 9 Keiser but won the regular season title with a 44-7 overall record and 22-2 mark in Sun play. SEU registered its third straight 40-win season and fourth in five seasons, as well as its second-most conference wins in program history and a 13-0 record in true road games. It is its first time hosting an Opening Round.
A win puts Faulkner in the finals round tomorrow, while a loss results in having to play again at 1 pm against the winner of the 11 am elimination game between the Valor and Bleu Devils.
All games of the NAIA Softball National Championship are streamed free of charge on the Urban Edge Network. See the Championship Central page for links to live stream and live stats, as well as box scores, recaps, photos and more.
