Montreat Softball Head Coach Lee Swanson wants his team to excel in every facet of the game, so while his team had to settle for an unsatisfying 2-2 record during a weekend tournament in Spartanburg, S.C., he talked about suicide squeezes and sacrifice bunts and clutch hits and saw what his team is capable of as the season progresses.

On Saturday, March 6, Montreat began the weekend with a tightly-contested 5-4 victory over Catawba College that saw the Cavs just cling to the winning margin after the Indians scored 3 in the bottom of the last inning (the seventh) before Montreat recorded the final out and stranded the tying run on second base. 

Junior Rachel Stowe earned the win and struck out 7 opponents, while Jamie Lokken and Olivia Huffman propelled the offense.  As she has all season, Lokken swung a dangerous bat and produced a 2-RBI double to right-center while Huffman hit her 3rd home run of the season, a 2-run shot in the fifth inning.

Lincoln Memorial University never let Montreat into Saturday's game two, scoring 4 in the 1st and 3 in the 2nd en route to a 10-3 win.  The loss dropped Montreat's record to 9-8 as the Sunday games waited.

Just as they had on Saturday, Montreat managed a narrow win in their first game of the day, edging Limestone College 3-1 in 8 innings as each team managed only 3 hits.  In fact, Swanson lamented that his defense committed more errors - four - than they collected base hits. 

One of those hits was a triple by Lokken in the top of the first frame; after she scored on a passed ball, only Limestone could manufacture a run in regulation, tying the game in the bottom of the 5th.  Montreat won the contest with 2 in the 8th by cobbling together what they could against stout Limestone defense and pitching: a sacrifice bunt by Priscilla Silva, another sacrifice bunt by Stephanie Morrison, a safety squeeze bunt by Maggie Rogers. 

That kind of scrambling, resourceful play is gratifying for a coach, but Swanson was disappointed as game 4 of the weekend slipped away during a 3-1 loss to Newberry College.  After his team scored in only 6 different innings over the 29 innings they played, Swanson summarized the effort this way: "Offensively and defensively, we did not get it done this weekend.  We have to start playing better as a team going forward." 

Swanson anticipates a long road trip on March 12-13 to Mobile, Alabama and 4 games against quality opponents will tell him where his team is now as the Cavaliers prepare to dive into conference play in ten days' time.