Split on Day 2 forces Miles to brink
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Box Score 2
HAMPTON, Ga. -- Miles started Day 2 of the 2016 SIAC Softball Championship with a big 7-4 win over Kentucky State but two innings from pulling off a big upset over Tuskegee, fell 2-1 to the Golden Tigers to fall into the elimination bracket heading into the final day on Saturday.
GAME 1 - (W2) Miles 7, (W4) Kentucky State 4
The Golden Bears pounded out 11 hits and used a big fourth inning to knock off the Thorobrettes.
Victoria McDaniel stole home in the first inning to give Miles a quick 1-0 lead but KSU took a 3-1 lead into the bottom of the third inning.Â
Jasmine Langston's RBI single in the third brought the Golden Bears closer but it was a two-run single by
Kathryne Lambert that gave Miles the lead in the fourth and highlighted a four-run frame that pushed the advantage to 6-3. The Thorobrettes scored in the top of the fifth but Miles answered in the bottom of the frame when
Talana Brown scored on an error for the final margin.
Kendruena McPhereson picked up the win, allowing three hits and two earned runs in 5 1/3 innings pitched. Brown earned the save with 1 2/3 innings of hitless relief. McDaniel, Lambert, Langston and Brown each had two hits to pace the offense.
GAME 2 - (W1) Tuskegee 2, (W2), Miles 1
Miles had Tuskegee on the ropes but the Golden Tigers scored two late runs to take the win and advance to the SIAC Championship Game.
Victoria McDaniel singled, stole second and third, and scored on Jamellya Drucker's sacrifice bunt to take a 1-0 lead in the top of the first. But the Miles offense, which had averaged nearly 10 runs per game to open the tournament, dried up from there. Luckily, Grayson Culverson was in control in the circle, limiting Tuskegee to just four hits through the first five innings.
But trouble found the Golden Bears in the sixth. Karisa Foye's RBI single scored Kaylin Finch to tie the game. In the seventh,
Kendruena McPhereson came in relief of Culverson and threw two wild pitches, the last scoring Sharde Thomas, as the Golden Tigers earned the win without getting a hit in the final inning.
Miles will face East Division No. 1 seed Claflin Saturday at 10 a.m. in an elimination game. If Miles wins, it will play Tuskegee again at noon, needing to win twice to take home the SIAC title and automatic berth in the NCAA South Region Tournament.
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