CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. – In the opening round of the Southern Conference Softball Championship, the No. 2 seed Samford softball team prevailed 4-2 over the No. 7 seed ETSU Buccaneers on Wednesday.
 
With the win, Samford improves to 24-29 overall and will advance in the winner's bracket to play Chattanooga at 2 p.m. CT on Thursday. ETSU drops to 15-36 on the year. 
 
After a bumpy first inning, the SoCon Pitcher of the Year McKenzie Newcomb cruised to her 13th win of the season. Newcomb allowed two runs on six hits with six strikeouts in her ninth complete game of the season. 
 
McKayla Cothran paced the Samford offense as the sophomore collected two of the five Bulldog hits on the afternoon. Cothran also drove in a run and scored once to propel Samford on to the next round. 
 
The three other Bulldog hits came off of bats that belonged to Sarah Squillace, Merritt Cahoon and second-team All-SoCon performer Grier Bruce. 
 
ETSU jumped out to an early 2-0 in the top of the first inning when a Buccaneer launched a two-run double over the head of Lindsey Nelson in center field.
 
In the bottom of the first, Squillace worked a leadoff walk before Cothran reached on an infield single. A Logan Champion sacrifice bunt moved the runners into scoring position and brought Bruce to the plate with one out. Bruce battled for 11 pitches before catapulting a double down the left field line to score Squillace and Cothran to tie the game at 2-2 after the opening frame. 
 
The Bulldogs took the lead for good in the bottom of the second when Ansley Yantis scored on a Squillace double to right center. Squillace scored one batter later to make it a 4-2 game on a Cothran single to right.
 
After taking the lead in the second, Newcomb stifled the ETSU attack and only allowed a trio of hits over the final five innings of work including retiring the final seven batters that she faced. 
 
UP NEXT
Samford will take on Chattanooga on Thursday at 2 p.m. CT and the game will be streamed on ESPN+. 



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