CONWAY, Ark. - Westminster softball finished their opening tournament of the year, ending the weekend 1-3 on the year after falling in their final two Sunday games.
The Blue Jays open the season 1-3.
"This weekend was a great success for us," said Westminster Head Coach Joe Henderson. "It was great that we were able to see everyone play in these early games. It also told me a lot about these young freshman and sophomores on our team. They fought hard, had great energy, and progressively got better. With less than one week of practicing outside, this has been the best early spring in my four years at Westminster."
Westminster faced Centenary to start the day, again falling short by just one run, 5-4. Centenary opened the first inning by scoring one run, but Westminster scored two in the top of the second on an RBI from Brooklyn Bledsoe.
The score remained 2-1 until the fifth inning, when Westminster added two more runs on a double from Brooke Laidley. Centenary added one in the bottom of the inning to make the score 4-2 in favor of Westminster. In the final inning of the game, Centenary came back to score three runs in walk-off fashion and take the win from Westminster.
Katie Price pitched the seven innings for the Blue Jays, giving up five runs on 10 hits while striking out seven. All but two Blue Jays recorded hits in the game.
In game two against Hendrix, the Blue Jays gave up a run to the Warriors in each of the first two innings to go down 2-0. Westminster finally added a run in the fourth inning on an RBI double from Katie Price to score one, but Hendrix answered in the bottom of the inning with two more runs of their own.
An Emily Holloway RBI gave Westminster a new life in the fifth, but Hendrix stormed back with two more runs to make the final score 7-2.
Madison Ingram pitched all seven innings for Westminster, giving up seven runs on 14 hits while striking out two.
"I am looking forward to the journey to conference play," said Henderson. "We took great steps today in building sustainable chemistry."
Westminster returns to Fulton for their home opened March 4 against Wisconsin-Platteville.
