PULASKI, Tenn. - Cold hitting finally caught up the Freed-Hardeman Lady Lions in the winners' bracket finals at the TranSouth Conference tournament on Friday, and wet weather did the rest on Saturday.
Fifth-seeded Bethel (Tenn.) College pulled its second upset in as many days, knocking off second-seeded FHU, 2-1. The Lady Wildcats previously defeated top-seeded Martin Methodist (Tenn.) on Thursday.
Because of continued rain, the remainder of the tournament was cancelled giving Bethel the conference's automatic berth to the NAIA National Tournament. It also most likely brings the season to a close for Freed-Hardeman (26-9), though an at-large bid remains an outside possibility.
Bethel broke through in the fourth inning, taking advantage of two FHU errors to push two runs across the plate off of Tarrah Tucker (19-3). The unearned runs broke Tucker's streak of 31 scoreless innings.
Meanwhile, Bethel starter Leah Hensley was able to keep the Lady Lions off the board for six innings by stranding six FHU runners, including pitching out of a bases-loaded jam in the fourth.
Freed-Hardeman loaded the bases with no outs in the seventh on consecutive singles by Whitney Pratt, Tucker, and Traci Gibbons. Brittany Steverson followed with a sacrifice fly that scored Camille Cunningham - who was running for Pratt - from third, but Hensley got Jill Brock to pop up to shallow right and the retired Brittany Bradford on a groundout to second to end the game.
FHU outhit Bethel, seven to three, but stranded eight baserunners to Bethel's two.
The skies opened up almost immediately following the conclusion of the game, postponing play for the rest of the day before the tournament was cancelled for good on Saturday.
