The dedication of Smith Stadium had the Lipscomb softball team hitting their stride, winning three in a row this weekend against the Mercer Bears at Draper Diamond.
The softball stadium was officially dedicated to Michael Smith and his son Derek Smith, who are owners of Rio Grande Fence Company. The Smiths are heavily active in the softball program, giving the university one of the best fields in the Atlantic Sun Conference, if not nationally.
The field was dedicated to the Smiths after the 9-1 blowout win against Mercer on Saturday afternoon, and right before the 5-4 win that took eight innings to get it done.
Their streak continued on Sunday when they hosted Mercer for the third and final game, and after trailing 1-0, they forced extra innings yet again and senior infielder Kelsey Cartwright drove in the winning run.
“Well, yesterday, [Mercer’s pitcher] was jamming me a lot, so I was expecting more in, but the pitch before was out,” Cartwright said. “Thankfully, Paige [Neely] got on to even give me the opportunity, but they came back again with the outside, and I was able to luckily get a hit up the middle.”
Neey, the junior infielder who scored the winning run, also contributed heavily on both sides of the ball all weekend for the team. She said both sides were needed in each win.
“Their team definitely kept us motivated, Neely said. “They were scratching and clawing, and we just had a motivation to not let them win and that went from defense to offense.”
The weekend sweep puts the Lady Bisons at 34-9 overall and 14-6 in Atlantic Sun play. Mercer now drops to 29-17 overall and 11-8 in the conference to remain at fourth place.
Families and young kids from White House were also in attendance for Sundays match-up, and both Cartwright and Neely expressed their appreciation for the younger girls to be there.
“They give more to us than we give to them,” Neely said. “It reminds us of why we started playing, and when you see the joy on their faces in seeing us, and they’re watching us in the dugout the whole time, they just remind us what it’s all about and why we started playing softball.”
Kelsey, who knows a few of the girls personally, expressed her joy in seeing them as well.
“I give lessons and umpired them a lot, so its great to see them, and it just reminds us of why we play the game,” Cartwright said. “We’re just having fun.”
The Lady Bisons will now head to the Sunshine State to play games this weekend against Stetson before returning home for the final stretch of the regular season.
“I think we’re peeking at the right time, which is crucial,” Cartwright said. “We had a little rough spot a few weeks ago, but I think we’ve got that out of the way, and we have good momentum going into the next few games.”
Photos courtesy of Lipscomb Athletics