Game 1 Box
Game 2 Box

JACKSON, Miss. – The Hendrix College softball team split a Southern Athletic Association double-header at Millsaps College on Saturday. The Warriors (20-16, 9-11) rallied in the seventh inning to win the opener 4-2, but the Majors (19-18, 10-12) rebounded to take the second game 2-0.

The two teams will wrap up their series with a double-header at noon on Sunday. They are battling for the fourth seed at next weekend's SAA Tournament in Danville, Ky. Millsaps holds the fourth seed and Hendrix is the fifth seed going into the final day of regular season play. Centre is just behind at 9-12.

In game one, the Warriors scored in the top of the first when pitcher Emily Collins loaded the bases and walked freshman first baseman Shelby Anderson, allowing junior second baseman Catelyn Gibbs to cross the plate.

The Majors answered with two runs on three hits and two errors in the bottom of the fifth. Center fielder Abbie Joiner had a RBI-single in the frame.

Junior left fielder Tiffany Hubbard hit a home run to left field to start the top of the seventh for Hendrix, tying the game at 2-2. Sophomore right fielder Morgan Fires singled, was bunted over by senior center fielder Sydney Copeland and scored the go-ahead run on a Gibbs double. Sophomore shortstop Michaela Larabee plated Gibbs with a base hit to center for the final run of the game.

Fires went 2-for-3 for the Warriors and Gibbs scored twice. Joiner had two hits for the Majors.

Senior Ashley Halbert (9-10) earned the win, striking out four and allowing seven hits and an earned run over seven innings. Collins (6-4) allowed six hits, three earned runs and walked three with one strikeout in the loss.

In the nightcap, Millsaps hurlers Molly Tyner and Katie Birdwell (6-3) combined to throw a six hit shutout. Tyner went three and a third, giving up four hits and a walk with one strikeout. Birdwell earned the win in relief, allowing two hits and fanning one in three and two-thirds innings. Hendrix sophomore Lauren Whitby (5-4) allowed six hits, an earned run and a walk with one strikeout in the losing effort.

Birdwell singled in shortstop Caroline Thompson in the first to go up 1-0. First baseman Tiffany Harvard singled and later scored on an error in the second.

Halbert went 2-for-3 and Anderson had two hits with a double for the Warriors. Thompson and Birdwell had two hits each for the Majors.