Mercer and Samford advance in the winners' bracket

No. 5 Mercer 5, No. 4 Wofford 2
SPARTANBURG, S.C. – No. 5 seed Mercer won over No. 4 seed Wofford, 5-2, in the third game of 2025 Southern Conference Softball Championship presented by One Spartanburg on Wednesday at Hope Field.

The Bears (32-23) advance to play No. 1 seed Chattanooga (39-13) on Thursday at 10 a.m. The Terriers (30-21) fall to an elimination contest on Thursday at 7 p.m. against an opponent to be determined.

Mercer struck first in the opening inning when Grace Jones hit a RBI double with two outs, scoring Parris Wiggs on the play. Jones scored two plays later on an error, giving the Bears a 2-0 lead.

In the third inning, Wofford cut the lead in half. First-team all-conference performer Hope Ingle hit a sacrifice fly to right field, bringing Kaytlin Greenwood across home plate. The score stood at 2-1 in favor of the Bears.

The next two innings saw Mercer push its lead back up to three. KiKi Daniels doubled to right center field, scoring Sydney Harris in the fourth inning. Tori Hedgecock hit a two-out solo home run in the fifth, bringing the Bears advantage to 4-1.

Wofford closed the gap in the sixth inning. The Terriers scored their second run of the game via a sacrifice fly in the frame, this coming off the bat of Kalli Petty to bring Bergan Needles across home plate.

In the seventh inning, Hedgecock drove in another run with a single through the left side, scoring Bergan Needles to give the Bears a 5-2 lead. Wofford logged a 1-2-3 bottom of the frame, giving Mercer its second victory of the day.

Gabby Ellis (9-5) threw a complete game for Mercer, striking out three batters and allowing six hits. Hedgecock went 3-for-4 at the plate to lead the Bears.

Six different Terriers had a hit in the contest.

No. 3 Samford 7, No. 7 ETSU 6
SPARTANBURG, S.C. – The No. 3 seed Samford Bulldogs topped the No. 7 seed ETSU Buccaneers, 7-6, in the final game of day one at the 2025 Southern Conference Softball Championship presented by One Spartanburg on Wednesday at Hope Field.

The Bulldogs (32-21) advance to play No. 2 seed UNCG (38-16) on Thursday at 1 p.m. The Bucs (18-36) fall to an elimination game on Thursday at 4 p.m. against an opponent to be determined.

Both teams had their bats working early as each scored four runs in the opening inning. ETSU finished the frame with six hits, while Samford logged its runs on four hits.

The Bulldogs took the lead in the bottom of the second on a RBI single by Katie Campbell, which scored Sarah Squillace. The Bucs went in front during the next half inning on a two-RBI single by Halle Laramie, making the score 6-5 in favor of ETSU.

The back-and-forth affair continued in the bottom of the fourth when Samford regained the lead. Campbell drove in Squillace for the second time in the game, and that was followed by a RBI infield single from Grier Bruce, a second-time all-conference team member, moving the Bulldogs in front 7-6.

Neither team scored for the rest of the contest. ETSU did advance a runner to third base in both the fifth and sixth innings but were unable to capitalize.

Olivia Treece picked up her eighth win of the season for the Bulldogs, striking out three batters and allowing zero runs in 4.2 innings inside the circle.

Campbell and Squillace both had three hits in the game to lead the Bulldogs at the plate. Brylee Mesusan was 3-for-4 with a run scored for ETSU.

 
2025 SoCon Softball Championship
Spartanburg, S.C.
Wednesday, May 7
Game 1: No. 5 Mercer 11, No. 8 Furman 7
Game 2: No. 7 ETSU 12, No. 6 Western Carolina 9
Game 3: No. 5 Mercer 5, No. 4 Wofford 2
Game 4: No. 3 Samford 7, No. 7 ETSU 6

 
Thursday, May 8
Game 5: No. 1 Chattanooga vs. No. 5 Mercer, 10 a.m.
Game 6: No. 2 UNCG vs. No. 3 Samford, 1 p.m.
Game 7: No. 7 ETSU vs. Game 5 loser, 4 p.m.
Game 8: No. 4 Wofford vs. Game 6 loser, 7 p.m.
 
Friday, May 9
Game 9: Game 5 winner vs. Game 6 winner, 10 a.m.
Game 10: Game 7 winner vs. Game 8 winner, 1 p.m.
Game 11: Game 10 winner vs. Game 9 loser, 4 p.m.
 
Saturday, May 10
Game 12: Game 9 winner vs. Game 11 winner, 1 p.m.
Game 13 (if necessary): Game 12 winner vs. Game 12 loser, 4 p.m.