The four teams that were remaining were No. 1 USC Upstate, No. 2 Kennesaw State, No. 4 FGCU and No. 5 Lipscomb. Lipscomb is the host of this year's A-Sun Conference softball tournament
Earlier in the tournament, Jacksonville (JU) and North Florida (UNF) were eliminated. JU was the first team eliminated after losing to UNF 6-5 in the first round and then losing 4-1 to Lipscomb, who lost 4-0 to FGCU in the first round as well.
UNF won 6-5 against their crosstown conference rival, but then lost to 2-1 to KSU and dropped to the loser's bracket and faced FGCU, who lost 3-0 to Upstate. UNF would end up being the second team eliminated after losing to FGCU 3-0.
With the four teams remaining, Kennesaw received a brief bye and awaited the winner between FGCU and Lipscomb.
FGCU would send sophomore Riley Randolph to the mound again. Randolph pitched four straight games in the tournament. She would face off against senior Mandy Jordan.
In the bottom of the first, junior A-Sun First Team All-Conference member Kelsey Huff led off with a single, but then was called out after leaving first base early to get a stolen base. So with the bases empty, junior A-Sun Second Team All-Conference member Bri Innamorato walked. Sophomore A-Sun Second Team All-Conference member Racquel Fournet would hit a single followed by a walk from junior LuLu Newmark.
With a 1-1 count, one out and the bases loaded, junior Brittany McGuire was up to bat, but then the weather drastically changed and rain came down.
After a three hour rain delay with the softball players on both teams dancing to "Whip Nae Nae" and the head coaches of both teams sliding on the tarp that covered the field, the game resumed. McGuire would strikeout as well as senior Bree Tourtillott to end the inning.
Lipscomb would strike first in the top of the second after freshman Chloe Yeager hit an RBI single that drove in sophomore Sarah Higgins, but the bats for FGCU would not be silenced.
Sophomore Morgan Sutherland lead thing off with a double to left. After a sacrifice bunt from senior A-Sun All-Academic Team member Jeanie Verderese, junior Natalie Lopez would bring would hit an RBI fielder's choice and drive in Sutherland. After Huff reached first on an error and advance Lopez to second, Innamorato would pop out giving Fournet an opportunity to give FGCU the lead they needed and she did. Fournet would hit a double to left center driving in Lopez and Huff before Newmark walked and McGuire popped out to end the inning.
From there, Randolph went on cruise control and struck out the Lipscomb's final batter and FGCU would win 3-1.
Fournet had the only mulit-hit game for FGCU going 2-3 with a single and the two run double.
Randolph, who would win her 18th game of the year, pitched a complete game giving up one run on four hits, while walking one batter and striking out six.
As a result, Lipscomb, the host team, was the third team eliminated from the tournament.
FGCU will face Kennesaw and the winner will face Upstate in the championship game on Saturday at 1 pm with another if necessary.
At 8 pm, FGCU and KSU faced off to decide who plays Upstate and who is eliminated. Both teams last played each other in the season. The series between them was tied. Kennesaw won the first game 4-3 in eight innings and FGCU won the second game 3-0. FGCU was ahead of KSU 1-0 going into the fifth inning, but then after heavy rainfall, the rubber match was cancelled and all the stats of the third game were nullified.
Randolph finally got a small break from pitching and coach Deiros put in senior Taylor Wade to start the game. KSU would go with redshirt junior Abigail Green.
The bats of both teams were really quiet and it was a pitcher's duel between Wade and Green for five innings.
In the top of the sixth, bats were finally waking up a bit.
After Huff and Lopez grounded out as the first two outs, Fournet struck a two out double to left center. Newmark would then strike a single to left, moving Fournet to third base for Innamorato. Innamorato has had a big share of driving in game winning or go ahead runs that are late in the game. On the first pitch, Innamorato connected with a first pitch single to left, driving in Fournet to score before McGuire lined out to end the inning.
In the bottom of the sixth, Wade was in a little fix.
After getting the first two outs, she walked A-Sun Player of the Year and A-Sun First Team All-Conference member Courtney Sutter. After Sutter was replaced by Andrea Summey to pinch run. After a wild pitch thrown, Wade gave up a single to A-Sun Second Team All-Conference member Noelle Winkles, but a ground out from A-Sun All-Freshman Team member Katey Lynch to Verderese saved Wade from giving up a run.
KSU pulled out Green and put in redshirt freshman Alley Cutting for an inning of relief in the top of the seventh. FGCU went scoreless and couldn't produce another run.
At the bottom of the seventh, Wade gave up a single to Jessie Mullen and got one out on ground out to third.
Deiros pulled her out and put Randolph in for a save situation with a runner in scoring position. After A-Sun Second Team All-Conference member Taylor Denton to Randolph, it was up to A-Sun Second Team All-Conference member Hannah Thomason to keep the Owls alive, but a ground out to McGuire proved too much for her and FGCU would win 1-0.
As a result, Kennesaw was the fourth team eliminated from the tournament, so it all comes down to two teams: FGCU and Upstate.
Wade, who earned her 10th win of the year, threw 6.1 innings giving up five hits and walking two batters and striking out one.
Randolph earned her second save of the game after throwing two thirds of an inning.
Fournet's double in the game was her 16th of the year.
FGCU will face Upstate once again in the championship game at 2 pm ET, but this is not the first time the two teams met in the championship.
Last year, Upstate won the conference championship as the No.2 seed while FGCU was the No. 1 seed in the conference. FGCU lost the game 5-1 and Upstate would go to the national tournament.
This could be dubbed as a rematch and vengeance game for FGCU against Upstate. Whoever wins represents the A-Sun in the named super regional in the national tournament.
I would guess that the pitcher's duel for both teams in the championship game would probably be Randolph and Mckinnon.
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