NCAA DII Lane College Sweeps CRC in Season Opener

NCAA DII Lane College Sweeps CRC in Season Opener- Wil Teague, Sports Information Director, 2-1-24

After a 273-day drought, CRC Lady Pioneer Softball hit the diamond making their annual return to action in their 2024 season opener. Last season the Lady Pioneers finished one game shy of the 20-win mark being 19-16 overall, and having their season come to an end in the postseason CAC tournament back in May. Head Coach Jordan Malone now enters her 9th season for the Pioneers and sets her sights back on the road to the CAC tournament and the opportunity to claim a career-first conference championship. 

Game One:

Crowley's Ridge- 2

Lane College- 8

Jackson, TN- The Lady Pioneers opened their season with a challenging road matchup against the NCAA DII Dragons of Lane College. The Lady Pioneers split against the Dragons last season as each team walked away with a pair of wins and losses over two contests, but after today's contest, the scale would tip in favor of Lane College as they swept both games of the doubleheader. 

In game one the Lady Pioneers got off to the right start as a senior trio pushed CRC ahead of Lane College with big swings from Shelby Elrod, Maddie Reed, and Hannah Burk. Elrod led off the contest with a single to left, followed by Reed's double to right field, which set up Burk to bring 'em home with her 1 out 2 RBI single to center field in the top of the first inning. Painfully for the Pioneers, this would be the only runs produced in the contest, unlike the hosting Dragons who pushed runs across home plate in the first, second, fourth, and sixth innings. CRC would scatter a few hits throughout the contest but wouldn't be able to string anything together as they fell in their season opener. 

Senior Shelby Elrod also took to the inner circle for the final season-opening debut of her Pioneer career where she tossed all 6.0 innings. The Ballard County, KY native allowed 8 runs on 7 hits over those 6.0 innings while striking out 5 and walking 8. Kylie Cox led the offense as she was the sole Pioneer with a multi-hit game as she went (2-3). Other Pioneer stats include Hannah Burk, (1-3) 2RBI, and Maddie Reed (1-2) 2B.

Game Two:

Crowley's Ridge- 1

Lane College- 7

Jackson, TN- In game two the Lady Pioneers narrowly escaped being handed their first shutout loss of the season as the Dragons defeated them 7-1. CRC mustered 4 hits in the contest with senior Hannah Burk coming through for the Pioneers again as she brought in CRC's only run with a hard-hit RBI single up the gut to center field in the top of the 6th, driving in freshman Hadlee DeFries. Junior Halea Wells led the Pioneer defense from the pitcher's circle with Wells whirling all 6.0 innings of work. Wells allowed 7 runs while giving up 10 hits, striking out two, and walking two. Senior Dru Bryant led the Pioneer attack going (1-2) while Burk brought in the lone Pioneer run with her (1-3) RBI effort. 

Up Next: CRC SB will host Harris-Stowe State University in their season home opener on February 9th in a doubleheader matchup starting at 1:00 PM. #GOPIONEERS