Louisburg College softball secured the Region 10 tournament championship this weekend with wins against Pitt Community College, Richard Bland College, and Bryant & Stratton College.

Going into the weekend the Hurricanes had outscored the tournament field 138-23 with a 12-1 record. They continued to control the field by outsourcing them 28-5 and going 3-0 this weekend.

The #1 Hurricanes played their first round game at 3:00 on Thursday against #4 Pitt Community College and won the contest 9-1.

Kennedy Byrd pitched 4 innings, giving up 1 run (0 earned) on 3 hits, 1 walk, and 2 strikeouts. Zoey Jones came on in relief to strike out the side in the top of the 5th and end the game.

At the plate the Hurricanes had 11 total hits against Madison Hall and did not strikeout. Kennedy Byrd went 3-3. Jillian Brunton went 2-3, and Kaylee Oliver went 2-2.

Coach Lee commented, "I'm glad we were able to get off on the right foot in the region tournament. Our pitchers did a good job managing a quality Pitt line up and it was good to see the heart of our order do what they were supposed to as they went 7-9."

In game two Louisburg's offense continued the trend. Friday at 2:00 the Hurricanes took on #6 Richard Bland. Richard Bland beat Bryant & Stratton in 5 innings Thursday morning and then defeated Catawba Valley 8-4 in the night cap leading up to the game.

The Hurricanes 1 hit Richard Bland and won the game 14-1 in 5 innings.

Sara Graham started in the circle for Richard Bland, gave up early walks, and Louisburg continued the onslaught with 14 hits. Kennedy Byrd started in the circle for Louisburg with some control issues of her own, but ended up only giving up one run on one hit. Zoey Jones and Cayden Sutton pitched the 4th and 5th for Louisburg and did not allow any runs.

Offensively, Jillian Brunton walked in all 4 plate appearances. Taylor McQueen had 2 hits in 3 at bats. While Kassidy Mills drove in 3 runs and Kennedy Byrd scored 3 runs.

"It was a little bit surprising that we didn't see Taylor Green after she had thrown so well on Thursday to get to the game, but looking back I think it was the right call," said Louisburg Coach Eric Lee, "I thought we exhibiting a ton of patience at the plate and didn't try to force offense to happen and scored 14 runs without leaving the yard."

The tournament ended on Saturday with Louisburg playing Bryant & Stratton (VA) at 12:30.

#3 Bryant & Stratton VA took the long road, losing in game 1 to Richard Bland, defeating Pitt after playing behind into the 5th, and then edging out Cleveland early Saturday morning.

The Hurricanes won the game 5-3.

Zoey Jones started and went 4 innings in the circle for Louisburg. Jones gave up a run in the 1st on a Cynthia Alvillar single. She also gave up a home run to Kiara Selby to lead off the top of the 4th. She recorded 4 strikeouts.

Kennedy Byrd came on in relief, pitching 3 innings, allowing 1 unearned run on 1 hit. She also recorded 4 strikeouts. 

Edi Austin hit a homerun in the bottom of the 3rd to put Louisburg up 3-2 and then in the top of the 5th Bryant & Stratton threatened. Abigail Epperson singled for the Bobcats and then Austin slipped fielding a bunt and failed getting the lead runner. Byrd walked Gust and then Louisburg catcher Kaylee Oliver mishandled a throw home after a short ground ball to Edi Austin to tie the game at 3. The bases remained loaded for a shallow fly out to left field where the runner was not able to tag and score from third. Then Alvillar hit a line drive over 1st base Jillian Brunton dove and landed on 1st base to get a double play and get the Hurricanes out of the inning.

In the bottom of 6th Kassidy Mills doubled into the right field corner and McKenzy Angle came into pinch run as Edi Austin bunted for a hit, setting up a 1st and 3rd situation. Austin stole 2nd base to set up 2nd and 3rd nobody out. Kasey Lee dropped a squeeze bunt down the 3rd baseline and Bryant & Stratton had no play anywhere which resulted in a run and another 1st and 3rd. With one strike on Kaylee Oliver, Kaylee Kaufmann pinch hit. Kaufmann was able to advance to second on a dropped 3rd strike as Coach Lee elected to take a chance and ran Hydee Kugler into an out at home plate. The inning went quiet after that, but Louisburg had taken the lead 5-3.

Pitcher Kennedy Byrd returned to the circle in the 7th and struck out Iyanna Betts, induced a lazy fly ball from Chloe Gust after a long at bat, and struck out Shayla Hurley on three pitches to end the game.

"This team has faced adversity all year long. Today was no different," said Coach Lee, "We have a saying around here that Louisburg finds a way [to win]. And today that's what we did," 

"Our pitching staff gave up 3 runs in 3 games which makes it really hard for our opponents to beat us," Coach Lee continued. "Kennedy Byrd got the win in all three games–willing her team to a Region X Tournament championship."

The Hurricanes advance to the Atlantic A District Series on May 10-11. They will face Mercer County Community College from West Windsor, New Jersey. The first pitch on Friday will be at 4 pm at Sheilah R. Cotten Field.