The Belmont Abbey softball team capped off a five game winning streak with a pair of shutout wins over the visiting St. Andrews Knights this afternoon, posting wins of 5-0 and 7-0. The sweep, combined with Queens's sweep of Barton, allows Abbey to clinch the eighth seed for next week's Conference Carolinas Tournament, which begins Friday in Hartsville, South Carolina. The Crusaders improve to 15-33 overall and finish their conference season with an 8-14 ledger, while St. Andrews drops to 8-42 overall and 2-16 in Conference Carolinas Tournament.

"I could not be more proud to be a part of Belmont Abbey Softball today," Head Coach Ellie Hanover said. "From start to finish this day was amazing. The whole day was about the team and playing for each other. You could not ask for a better senior day. I am so happy for Kelly Schweizer, Chelsea Elmore, Katie Childers and Rebecca Mateo. They deserved this day and the team deserved these two important wins. Everyone worked so hard to get the result today. We are all thrilled to be heading to the tournament next weekend. I would like to thank all of our fans who stuck with us and supported us throughout the entire season. We truly appreciate your support. We hope to make a great run at the tournament."

Entering last Tuesday's home doubleheader series with Erskine, the Abbey was 3-13 in league play, in 11th place in the standings and on the brink of elimination after dropping the first game to the Flying Fleet. With five games to go, one loss or one Pfeiffer win in its last four games would have eliminated the Abbey, but Pfeiffer dropped all four of those games, and the Abbey closed out the regular season by running off five straight wins. Entering today's matchup the only way for the Abbey to qualify was to win both games against the Knights and hope that Queens swept Barton, which had the tiebreaker over the Crusaders, and that is exactly what happened. Both Abbey and Queens won both games by shutout. In the end, the Abbey surpassed three teams ahead of it in the standings to clinch the final spot.

In the opener the Crusaders moved into the lead in the bottom of the third with two runs, getting back-to-back RBI singles by Amber Faust and Katie Childers.

One inning later the edge grew to 5-0 as the Crusaders strung together three hits to score three more times. Chelsea Elmore led off with a single and raced to second on a pinch hit single by Shannon Cardillo. After a pitching change, Elmore and Savannah Carpenter, pinch running for Cardillo moved up one base on an illegal pitch. That was followed by a three-run blast to left center by Carol-Anne Sherrill, her third homer of the year.

That was all of the offense Nikki Faust needed, as she held St. Andrews to just one hit in a complete game effort. In her last 14 innings, she has allowed no runs on four hits and has struck out five batters. The only hit she allowed today was an infield single to third base in the second inning. She retired the side in order five times. Whitney Hill took the loss. She gave up four runs, three earned, in three innings, striking out one and walking one.

Belmont Abbey totaled nine hits as Sherrill and Elmore led the way with two each. Sherrill drove in two runs, while Childers and Amber Faust had one each.

In the nightcap the Crusaders recorded a season-high 15 hits as they stormed ahead in the bottom of the second. Elmore's RBI single plated Rebecca Mateo, who entered the game as a pinch runner for Brooke Baliles, who laced a single to centerfield earlier.

Amber Faust made it 2-0 in the bottom of the third as Kelly Schweizer reached on a one out infield single, moved to second on a wild pitch and scored on Faust's single to left center.

In the fifth the Abbey added two insurance runs, the first coming on a Knights error that allowed Sherrill to score from third, and the other on Shannon Arthur's ringing double to left center, scoring Kaylie Mae Kuhnke, who came in to run for Faust after she reached on the earlier error.

The Crusaders salted the game away in the sixth with three runs on five hits, using a two-RBI single by Aleisha Peek and an RBI single from Arthur that brought home Peek.

Emily Self, who worked a complete-game shutout, allowed just three hits and did not walk a batter. She fanned two to earn the win. She did not allow a hit after the third inning.

At least five Crusaders had two hits, led by Arthur's three in four at bats with two RBI. Sherrill, Peek, Amber Faust and Childers all had two hits. Peek drove in two runs.

Belmont Abbey will open the Conference Carolinas Tournament Friday at noon against North Greenville in Hartsville, South Carolina.

Game One Box

Game Two Box