Box Score

HARDEEVILLE, S.C. – Facing the uphill task of beating the No. 1 seed twice in one day, No. 2 seed Spring Hill (Ala.) was up to the challenge Wednesday, knocking off ninth-ranked USC Beaufort 4-0 and 7-3 in nine innings to win the NAIA Softball National Championship Opening Round USC Beaufort Bracket at Richard Gray Sports Complex.

After blanking the Sand Sharks (43-6) in the first game of the day, Spring Hill freshman Caroline Sagrera gave another strong performance in the finale, holding USCB to three runs (two earned) on seven hits. She struck out nine in a nine-inning complete game. Sagrera (35-9) went 4-1 with three shutouts in the tournament and racked up 46 strikeouts.

Sagrera outlasted USCB ace Kristy Cook (22-2), who also went the distance and was charged with seven runs – three earned – on nine hits. Cook repeatedly worked out of jams, as the Badgers left two on in the sixth and eighth and left the bases loaded in the seventh.

The Sand Sharks couldn't get out of trouble in the ninth, though, as three errors helped the Badgers put together a big inning. Jade Bourgeois' single up the middle gave Spring Hill (45-15) the lead, and Katelyn Hinson's single and a USCB error brought home two more runs. The Badgers tacked on one more on Elise deBruler's sacrifice fly, and Segrara sat down the Sand Sharks in order in the ninth to send Spring Hill into the national championship.

USCB appeared poised to win it in the seventh, but a remarkable defensive play by Hinson saved the game for Spring Hill. Pinch hitter Sammi Shaffren drew a walk and moved to second on a sacrifice bunt, bringing Katie Rietkovich to the plate with one out. Rietkovich laced a line drive to left, but Hinson ranged to her right and stretched out to make a back-handed catch, then threw to second to double off Shaffren and end the inning.

The Sand Sharks took a 2-0 lead on Taylor Triplett's RBI single in the first and Mariaha Sanborn's home run to left in the second, but Bourgeois drove a three-run homer to left with two outs in the third to give Spring Hill the lead. USCB tied it on Triplett's RBI groundout in the fifth, and that's where it stayed until the ninth-inning outburst.