THOMASVILLE, Ga. – The twenty-first ranked Thomas University Lady Night Hawks swept the Royals of Warner University this afternoon at Armory Field.  Thomas took game one 2-1 and then shut out the Royals 7-0 in game two.
 
Warner scored their sole run of the series in game one when they took the brief 1-0 lead in the top of third inning when designated player Erika Shick smashed a solo homerun over the center field fence off Thomas' starting pitcher, Katie Lopes.
 
The Lady Night Hawks would tie the game at 1-1 in the bottom of the sixth.  Third baseman Rachel Hoeft doubled to the left-center field gap.  Before first baseman Carmen Nadal stepped in, head coach Bill Wilson sent in Brittany Daniels as a pinch runner for Hoeft.  On a 1-2 count, Nadal would tie the game with a single just over the first baseman's outreached glove.
 
Lopes set down the Royals in the top frame of the seventh to send the Lady Night Hawks to the plate with three outs to pick up the win.  With one out in the inning, shortstop Lindsey Young started the rally singling through the gap between short and third.  Center fielder Aileen Fiallo then moved Young to third on a hit-and-run push bunt down the first base line.  Before pinch hitter Danielle Lower struck out swinging, Fiallo stole second base to put runners on second and third.  With two outs in the inning, left fielder Chandler Seay provided the walk-off 2-1 win for the Lady Night Hawks with an infield single, scoring Young from third.  Lopes picked up the win while Warner's Chelsie Valentine suffered the loss.  The right-handed Lopes (10-4) struck out four of the 25 batters she faced while only allowing one earned run on six hits.
 
In game two, starter Ashley Sikes (15-6) and reliever Ashley Chapman combined for a four-hit shutout in the Lady Night Hawks' 7-0 victory. 
 
The Hunter Green and White's bats propelled the Lady Night Hawks into the 4-0 lead in the opening inning of the contest.  All nine Lady Night Hawks batted in the inning.  Right fielder Alex VanWagner singled to start the inning.  Before Seay reached on a fielder's choice, VanWagner stole second.  Seay's hit moved VanWagner to third to put runners on the corners.  With one out in the inning, Nadal would drive in VanWagner and Seay with a two-RBI single to right field.  With the 2-0 lead, catcher Michael Cooper hit TU's third single of the inning to put runners on first and second.  Designated player, Chelsea Carter, would increase Thomas' advantage to 3-0 with a double to the right-center gap.  The final Lady Night Hawk run of the inning came when Warner's Jessica Adams mishandled a ground ball, allowing Cooper to score from third to put Thomas up 4-0.
 
TU would go on to score three more runs in the contest, one in the second and two in the sixth, to collect the 7-0 victory.  Notably, Sikes aided her pitching effort with a solo homerun to lead off the sixth.  Sikes would go on to win the game while Shick was credited with the loss.
 
Thomas improves to 32-11, 10-4 TSC, on the year while Warner drops to 15-17-1, 8-6 TSC.
 
The Lady Night Hawks will honor their nine seniors on Senior Day, Saturday, April 25, against Ave Maria University.  Saturday's first pitch is scheduled for 11:00 a.m. with game two beginning 30 minutes after the conclusion of game one.  At 10:45 a.m., Coach Wilson and his staff will honor the seniors for their time spent with the program.  This year's senior class includes Kaley Clark, Alexa Fair, Aileen Fiallo, Sorrel Hale, Ashley Knight, Carmen Nadal, Chandler Seay, Kallie Shirling, and Lindsey Young. 
 
Thomas University athletics and the softball team invite everyone to come out and celebrate each of these student-athletes and their accomplishments.
 
For up-to-date information on these polls 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.