Campbellsville Captures 2021 MSC Softball Tournament Championship

Softball | Sat, May 8, 2021

Tournament Page | Box Score

COLUMBIA, Ky. – Top-seeded Campbellsville (Ky.) defeated fifth-seeded Georgetown (Ky.) in a 6-5 thriller to capture the 2021 Mid-South Conference Softball Tournament Championship Title at Sparks Park in Columbia, Kentucky.

With the win, Campbellsville (40-11) snatched one of the two automatic berths into the NAIA National Tournament. As the runner-up, Georgetown (27-19) collected the conference’s second automatic bid. Campbellsville gathers the program’s sixth tournament title.

In an eventful opening inning, Georgetown struck first with a solo score to take the early 1-0 lead. Carly Oliver got on base after being hit by a pitch but was caught stealing. Kristen Klimesh reached on a walk while Lindsey Mitchell reached on an error. Sabrina Sizemore came in to pinch run for Mitchell and eventually rounded home off a Madie Sims single to shallow left field. The Tigers left two on shortly after.

Campbellsville responded quickly with four runs in the bottom half of the inning. Riley Hurst reached base on a misplayed grounder before Mia Aldridge hit a two-run homer over the left field fence on a 2-2 count. Payton Blades singled to reach base and scored on Hannah Judd’s single through the hole at short stop. Lexi Miller singled to advance Judd to second just before Madison Davis doubled down the left field line to bring home Judd, giving Campbellsville the 4-1 lead.

The second inning resulted in scoreless efforts for both sides however Georgetown managed to tie the game in the third inning, responding with three runs. Klimesh reached base on a bunt and advanced to second on Mitchell’s single up the middle. Kaylyn Barnett doubled down the left field line to bring in Klimesh. Sims doubled to deep left field to score Mitchell and Barnett which would even the game at 4-4.

In the fourth inning, another inning would pass by without a score. Georgetown was dealt with quickly with a strikeout and two ground outs, leaving a runner on base. Campbellsville notched a hit and left a runner on as well but could not produce a score to break the tie.

Georgetown broke free in the top of the fifth to take the 5-4 lead. Annie Campbell singled to draw Barnett home, giving Georgetown the lead. Campbellsville answered in the bottom of the sixth with the tying score as Davis knocked out a solo shot over the left field fence to even the game at 5-5.

In the seventh, Campbellsville held off Georgetown as they were looking to score off of a hit, leaving one on base. After a quick ground out, Campbellsville found themselves in a decent position as Tori Humphry doubled to shallow right field with Sam McKee coming in to pinch run from second base. McKee advanced to third off a wild pitch and put Campbellsville in position to score. Georgetown threw another wild pitch which would prove to be fatal as McKee came home to give Campbellsville the winning run, closing the game 6-5.

Two pitchers were in the circle for Campbellsville with Katy Chadwell (20-4) pitching the final three innings to pick up the win. Karson Williams threw for the first four innings and recorded two strikeouts. For Georgetown, Sarah Claxon (9-10) pitched all 6.1 innings and recorded two strikeouts in the process.

As a team, Campbellsville notched 11 hits and five RBIs while Georgetown recorded 10 hits and five RBIs also. Both Aldridge and Davis recorded two hits and two RBIs to lead Campbellsville. Sims notched three hits and three RBIs to lead Georgetown’s offensive efforts.