Reinhardt, Truett McConnell advance as AAC softball tournament narrows to final three

Day four of the Appalachian Athletic Conference Softball Tournament trimmed the field and set Friday’s final steps at Brickyard Ball Fields in Kingsport, Tenn. No. 1 seed Johnson opened the day by eliminating No. 5 seed Pikeville, No. 2 seed Reinhardt followed by knocking out No. 7 seed Milligan, and No. 6 seed Truett McConnell moved into the championship round with an extra-inning win over No. 4 seed Bryan. The last game then reshaped the bracket again, as Reinhardt beat Johnson and sent the top seed into an elimination path. Bryan will meet Reinhardt in the losers bracket final Friday, with Truett McConnell waiting in the championship round.

Johnson’s first game was the tightest early test of the day, a 4-3 win over Pikeville in nine innings. Megan Armstrong gave Johnson a 1-0 lead with an RBI single in the first, but Pikeville answered in the second when Addison Johnson lined a two-run double down the left-field line. Johnson moved back in front in the third on Autumn Caywood’s two-run single, and Pikeville drew even again in the sixth when Alexis Emery homered to left. The deciding swing came in the top of the ninth, when Adelaide Hubbard delivered a run-scoring single to right. Lindy Webber finished the complete-game effort for Johnson, allowing three runs, one earned, over nine innings with six strikeouts.

Reinhardt’s first appearance of the day produced the biggest rally. Milligan surged ahead with a six-run second inning and carried an 8-4 edge into the fifth, but Reinhardt answered with a seven-run outburst that turned the game around and secured an 11-8 elimination win. Mollie Johnson’s RBI double and Alana Parsons’ two-run single helped Milligan build its early cushion, yet Reinhardt kept pressure on the game and finally broke through behind a string of extra-base hits. Molly Stevens tripled during the fifth-inning burst, Ansley Hight doubled twice and drove in two runs, and Taylor Wade added two hits and two runs. Anslie Pettit was credited with the win as Reinhardt advanced and Milligan’s tournament run ended.

The afternoon game between Truett McConnell and Bryan was more contained, but it carried the same stakes. Bryan took a 1-0 lead in the fourth on a KP Smith RBI single, and Truett McConnell answered in the same inning when Grace Folds homered to left. The deadlock held into the eighth before Truett McConnell found the opening it needed. Mackenzie Heim came through with a pinch-hit single, Emme Souter followed with the go-ahead RBI, and Truett pushed across two runs in the frame for a 3-1 lead. Bryan made one more push in the bottom half when Lily Taylor doubled home a run, trimming the margin to 3-2, but Truett McConnell held on to claim the extra-inning victory and a place in the championship round.

That left Johnson and Reinhardt to close the night, and Reinhardt carried its momentum into a 5-3 win that eliminated the top seed from the tournament. After a scoreless opening stretch, Reinhardt broke through in the fourth, then seized control with four runs in the fifth. Ansley Hight helped spark the inning and Emily Pettit delivered a two-run double as part of the decisive surge. Johnson responded with two runs in the bottom of the fifth and pulled within 5-3 in the sixth on Dylan Jablonski’s RBI double to left-center. Audrey Moorhouse finished 3 for 4 for Johnson, but Reinhardt starter Anslie Pettit completed the game and limited the damage over seven innings.

By the end of a four-game day, the bracket looked much different from the way it had that morning. Pikeville, Milligan, and Johnson were out, and Reinhardt had stacked two elimination-game caliber wins in the same day to stay alive. Truett McConnell, after its 3-2 win over Bryan, moved directly into the championship round. Friday’s schedule now sends Bryan against Reinhardt in the losers' bracket final, with the winner earning the next shot at Truett McConnell.