COLUMBUS, Ga. – Thomas University's softball team picked up its fourth win against a ranked opponent this morning defeating their Sun Conference rival and No. 24 USC-Beaufort 13-8 in the Gold Bracket Consolation semifinals.  
 
The early morning matchup featured a slugfest by both squads where they accumulated a combined nine homeruns in the seven inning game.  The Sand Sharks jumped out to the 3-0 lead over the Lady Night Hawks in their first inning of work.  TU's starter Alexa Fair surrendered two homeruns in the opening frame, a solo shot by USCB's Haley Brown and a two-run bomb by Mariaha Sanborn.
 
Thomas fought back in the bottom frame of the first to pull within one, 3-2.  Chandler Seay led the inning off with a slap single to third and then stole second base during Brittany Daniels' at bat.  Designated hitter Michael Cooper then walked on six pitches to put runners on first and second.  With two outs in the inning, first baseman Carmen Nadal stepped in and hit a seeing-eye single through the hole between third and short to score Seay for the first Lady Night Hawk run of the game.  Chelsea Carter then reached on an error by USCB's Shelby ZIpperer allowing Cooper to score from second.  USCB's starting pitcher, Kristy Cook, worked out of the jam to escape the inning without any further damage.
 
USCB's Brown was in the zone at the plate the entire game.  During her second at bat in the second inning, she launched her second homerun of the game, a two-run shot, to give USCB the 5-2 lead over TU.  The Lady Night Hawks would go scoreless in the bottom frame, but put on an offensive display in the bottom of the third scoring seven runs to take the 9-5 lead.
 
Reliever Kendall Jumper came on to pitch in the bottom frame of the third and Thomas welcomed her properly with three straight hits, one of which was a three-run blast by Carter over the centerfield fence, to take their first lead of the game at 6-5.  The Sand Sharks would change pitchers again bringing in Allie Rogers.  Immediately, the Lady Night Hawks welcomed Rogers to game the same way they did Jumper, with a two-run bomb over the left field fence by Lindsey Young to increase TU's lead to 8-5.
 
The offensive fury continued with no outs in the inning.  Thomas connected with three consecutive hits to load the bases for Nadal, who lined a single down the first base line to plate the seventh and final run of the inning giving TU the 9-5 advantage.
 
Sophomore Ashley Chapman, who came on in relief during the third inning, set down the first two batters in the top half of the fourth.  USCB's Brown stepped in and did the rare feat and hit a third homer to pick up the hat trick on the afternoon.  The solo shot was the first of a back-to-back set of homeruns by USCB in the inning cutting TU's lead to 9-7.
 
The Hunter Green and White went on to score two runs in the bottom of the fourth to widen their lead to 11-7.  Connolly hit the eighth homerun of the game over the centerfield fence for the tenth Lady Night Hawk run of the game.  Later, Young would steal home on a designed double steal for the eleventh run of the game.
 
Both pitchers, survived a scoreless fifth before USCB's Maddie Byrd hit her second homerun of the game, the ninth and final homerun of the contest, to cut TU's lead to 11-8 in the sixth.  In the bottom portion of the inning, Thomas scored two more insurance runs on singles by Cooper and Rachel Hoeft to cap the game at 13-8. 
 
Chapman shut the Sand Sharks down in the top of the seventh to lead to the Lady Night Hawk victory, picking up the win.  USCB's Jumper was credited with the loss.
 
Thomas improves to 13-4 on the season while No. 24 USC-Beaufort drops to 8-3 on the year.
 
The Lady Night Hawks return to action later this afternoon where they will face off with No. 3 Reinhardt University in the Gold Bracket Consolation Finals.  Previously, the Lady Night Hawks defeated RU 8-4 during Saturday's round robin games.  First pitch is set for 1:00 p.m.
 
For up-to-date information on these games and other TU Athletics, visit www.TUNightHawks.com.  Stay up-to-date with news, scores, photos, game summaries, and feature stories of your TU softball team by following them via Twitter at @NightHawksSoftb.