West No. 5 seeded Wesleyan College, NCAA Division III Collegiate Conference of the South, finished the 2021-2022 USA South softball season with a school record of twenty-four wins, including its first four post-season wins in the school’s history, and an overall record of 24-16.
The championship doubleheader came to an end Saturday as West No.1 seeded Piedmont University captured the series for the second consecutive year. In the best-of-three championship series, the Lions swept the Wolves with 4-2 and 3-0 victories.
In the first game of the double header, Piedmont jumped out to an early one-run lead in the first inning. In the top of the second inning, senior Marilynn Nesmith tripled-home freshman Jasmine Staley and scored on an error to give the Wolves a 2-1 lead. The Wolves held that lead until the bottom of the fifth inning when Piedmont's Kara Taylor hit a two-run double to center to put the Lions up 3-2. Piedmont would add another run in the sixth inning to secure the 4-2 win. Kimmy Dick pitched the entire game for Wesleyan giving up five hits but was bested by Emma McBrayer who also gave up five hits and went the distance for the Lions.
In game two, Piedmont jumped out to a top of the first-inning lead 1-0 behind three singles and two Wesleyan errors but the Wolves starting pitcher senior Tihana Zupanic stranded the bases loaded to limit the damage. Wesleyan looked to score in the bottom of the inning as junior Savannah Pollock and sophomore Bailey Caldwell hit one out singles. Senior Jendayi Wright then hit a line drive to left that was caught and Pollock was doubled off second base ending the inning. The next four innings were a scoreless pitching duel as Piedmont maintained their 1-0 lead. Piedmont added two runs in the top of the sixth inning bunching together two hits and five stolen bases to take a 3-0 lead. The Wolves failed to score in the bottom of the sixth and seventh innings as Piedmont won the championship. Tihana Zupanic, Marilynn Nesmith, Kimmy Dick, and Jasmine Staley were named to the all-tournament team for Wesleyan.
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