ONEIDA, Tenn. (February 23, 2020) – At the Bear Creek Tournament hosted at the Bear Creek Sports Complex in Oneida, Tennessee, the Webber International University softball team earned two wins against teams receiving votes in the 2020 NAIA Softball Coaches' Top 25 Preseason Poll and finished the tournament 3-1 overall. On Saturday, February 22, Webber defeated nationally recognized Taylor University 4-2 before falling to another nationally-recognized team and the host of the tournament, the University of the Cumberlands (Ky.), by a score of 5-4 after giving up two runs in the bottom of the seventh inning. Then, on Sunday, February 23, the Warriors earned a 5-3 win over nationally-recognized Lawrence Tech (Mich.) before defeating Thomas More University 12-0 in five innings during their final game of the tournament.

COACH'S CORNER: "We were very proud of the girls this weekend," said Head Coach Kristy Burton. "We were out of our element being in the cold weather, but the girls came ready to play. Our bats came alive and stayed alive throughout the weekend while the pitching staff worked great as a staff to keep us in every game. It was tough to suffer our first loss this season but it was a great game against a great team. We answered nicely to the loss last night with today's action. Most importantly, we had a great time and had the best fans in the world out there supporting us. Thank you to everyone who made the trip out to support us. We look forward to seeing you all on Tuesday."
 
Game 1 (Webber 4, RV Taylor 2)

• Emma Maitland (3-0) tossed her second complete game of the season, allowing eight hits, two runs and three walks across all seven innings while striking out a season-high nine hitters.
• Trailing 1-0 in the bottom of the second inning, Webber got a leadoff double to left field by Samantha Rolfe before scoring twice on RBI-singles by Cassidy Roberts scoring Rolfe and Kaitlin Cockcroft scoring Roberts to give the Warriors a 2-1 advantage.
• Webber then doubled up its scoring total in the bottom of the third inning to go ahead 4-1 before back-to-back doubles with nobody out by Taylor in the top of the sixth inning brought in a run and made it 4-2.
• From there, Maitland recorded three straight outs to leave the tying run at the plate, and then in the top of the seventh she worked around a leadoff double to strand a runner on third base and end the game.
• In all, Taylor had four doubles against Maitland.
• Offensively for Webber, Roberts was 2-for-3 with two RBI's and a run scored while Cockcroft was 2-for-4 with an RBI.

 
Game 2 (Webber 4, RV Cumberlands 5):

• Webber led 3-2 after a three-run home run to center field by Mary-Margaret Maggard with two outs in the top of the third.
• Then in the top of the sixth, the Warriors took another one-run lead at 4-3 thanks to an RBI-single up the middle by Cassidy Roberts scoring Victoria Atkinson, and that advantage held until the bottom of the seventh when Cumberlands came up with a walk off double to left field with one out to steal the win.
• Roberts and Maggard both finished with two hits in the contest as Roberts added a double while Maggard also added a triple in addition to her second home run of the season.

 
Game 3 (Webber 5, RV Lawrence Tech 3):

• Down 2-1 in the top of the fifth after two home runs already by Lawrence Tech, Webber scored twice to take the lead at 3-2 after a two-out single through the left side by Alyssa Rodriguez followed by a two-run homer to right field by Mary-Margaret Maggard, her third home run of the season and second in two games.
• In the top of the sixth, an RBI-single by Abigail Thompson scored Samantha Rolfe and Sumer Baker to expand Webber's lead to 5-2 before Lawrence Tech added a third solo home run of the game in the next half inning to make it 5-3.
• In all for the game, Rodriguez was 3-for-4 with what was the first multi-hit game of her senior season so far while Maggard was 2-for-3 with her fifth multi-hit game of the year.
• In the circle, starter Raven White pitched the first 4.1 innings of the game allowing six hits and two runs while Dariyen Moss (2-1) finished off the final 2.2 innings giving up only one hit and one run.

 
Game 4 (Webber 12, Thomas More 0 – five innings):

• Emma Maitland (4-0) went all five innings and recorded her second shutout of the season by allowing only four hits and zero walks while striking out seven batters.
• Webber scored its 12 runs on 17 hits with the big inning being a seven-run top of the third inning featuring only six hits.
• Daisy Riggleman was 3-for-3 with two runs scored and two RBI's, Abigail Thompson 2-for-2 with two RBI's and Mary-Margaret Maggard was 2-for-3 with a run and an RBI.

 
NEXT UP: 10 games into their 2020 season, the Warriors are now 9-1 overall and are 7-0 in neutral games. Next up will be two more neutral games as Webber travels to PFX Athletics Legends Way Ballfields in Clermont, Florida, the site of The Sun Conference Tournament, for two games on Tuesday, February 25. The Warriors will battle Point Park University (Pa.), which Webber split two games with in Clermont last season, at 2:30 p.m. followed by a 4:45 p.m. meeting with Mount Vernon Nazarene University (Ohio).