BABSON PARK, Fla.- In a back-and-forth, 11-inning battle between the No. 18 ranked Southeastern University Fire and the receiving votes Webber International, the Fire came out on top with a 5-4 victory to claim the Sun Conference Regular Season Championship for the first time since 2016.
The Fire advanced their overall record to a commanding 42-7 and locked in the top spot in the SUN after moving to 22-3 in conference play with the game one victory and have now gone unbeaten for 17 consecutive games.
The pitching duel between two of the top pitchers in the Sun Conference kept the offenses quiet until the third when the Warriors took advantage of a leadoff walk by scoring the first run on an RBI triple.
The Fire offense took six innings to bring across the first run after
Haleigh Harrell would draw the leadoff hit by pitch and would come around to score on a one-run single by
Ashley Ellison to tie the contest.
Down to their final two outs,
Jamie Mead gave the Fire the 2-1 lead after scoring
Alex Hilton on a one-run single into center field.
The Warriors kept themselves alive in the bottom of the seventh after a leadoff walk would come around to score on a two-out error by the Fire.
In the first extra inning, the Fire executed the Texas Tie-Breaker and brought home the third run off of a
Chapel Cunningham infield single, taking the 3-2 lead but the Warriors would again force another inning after a two-out RBI single.
The ninth inning saw the Fire load the bases off of two walks to allow a hit by pitch to bring home the leading run but would again come up short with the Warriors tying the contest yet again off of another Fire error.
It wouldn't be until the 11
th inning that the Fire were able to end the battle after a perfectly executed squeeze bunt by Mead that would allow
Madison Williams to score, securing the 5-4 victory.
Mead led the way offensively for the Fire going 3-4 with two RBI's while Cunningham was the only other member of the Fire to secure multiple hits.
Claire Sekinger moved her overall record to 19-2 after going an 11 inning complete game and allowing only four hits, one earned run, and striking out 12 while Webber's Kayla Swinson would drop to 20-5 on the season.
Games two and three of the series will take place tomorrow at 11 and 1 p.m.
