ST. GEORGE, Utah -- Lacye Walker continued her sizzling hitting and Beth Breeden came through with a huge hit again as top-seeded Chattanooga State beat fourth-seeded Pima Community College 8-3 in the NJCAA Division I softball national tournament Friday, but the Lady Tigers lost 4-1 to second-seeded Salt Lake CC in the winners-bracket final. Assured of no worse than third place, Chatt State (58-5) plays at 2 p.m. EDT today and then would have to beat Salt Lake twice for the title. Pima scored a run in each of the first two innings, but Breeden's grand slam in the fourth put the Lady Tigers ahead behind ace Ashley Czechner. After the Lady Aztecs cut the gap to 4-3 in the fifth on Nicole Rascon's triple and Aubre Carpenter's sacrifice fly, Chattanooga State scored two runs each in the sixth and seventh. Walker doubled in one of those and homered for the last two, making her 8-for-11 with two homers, three doubles and nine RBIs in three games. Marina Wilkerson was 2-for-4 and scored the run in the night game, when Czechner matched Ariel Zimmerman's four-hitter. Savanah Webster's two-out double in the top of the fourth inning put Salt Lake up 1-0, and Brooke Budge had a two-out RBI single in the fifth, before Wilkerson doubled and Shelby Johnson singled her home in the bottom of the inning. The key inning was the sixth, when Czechner got two outs but then hit Webster with a pitch, made an error and gave up a two-run triple to Lyndsey Healey.
• GULF SHORES, Ala. -- Lee University and area rival Shorter University both went to 2-0 in pool play in the NAIA national softball tournament with victories Friday. Both play today for spots in the championship portion of the event. Lee (48-10) beat Morningside 8-0 in five innings and plays at 5:30 p.m. EDT against Pool D top seed Central Baptist of Arkansas, which lost 3-0 on a three-hitter with eight strikeouts by Reinhardt pitcher Maddie Monroe from Calhoun, Ga. Charlie Wooden was 3-for-3 with a triple and two runs scored for Lee, and Tabitha Farrow was 2-for-2 with two RBIs while Dezirae Parsons went 1-for-2 with two RBIs and two runs. Jennifer Ringle was 2-for-3 and Brittany Balough pitched a two-hitter. Former LaFayette High School players Charlsie Broome and Emily Clements went 3-for-4 and 2-for-3 with an RBI apiece and two runs and one in Shorter's 8-2 win over Madonna, and Maddie Bray from Lakeview-Fort Oglethorpe was 2-for-2 with two RBIs and was the winning pitcher.
Soccer
• Former McMinn County standout Trent Huff and recent Soddy-Daisy High School graduate Jordan Edwards signed scholarship papers Thursday to continue their soccer careers at Tennessee Temple University. Huff is transferring from Bryan College, where he practiced but sat out last season after a standout freshman year at Tennessee Wesleyan. The speedy Edwards said he had an offer from Wesleyan and had earned a spot at Bryan before being asked to try out again, but declining, after the Dayton school's coaching transition. "I live closer to Temple anyway, and a bunch of my friends are going to be close by at UTC," Edwards said. "Also, [Temple] is in the process of rebuilding its program, and I like being part of that." Huff, 20, also noted that the youth-laden Crusaders "are on the rise" and he had played with several of them, and he liked the chance to live in Chattanooga. "This is quite big for us," Temple coach Kenrick Liburd said. "These are two skilled local boys with great club experience. I see Jordan as probably a creative, attacking midfielder. He does a good job being the driving force in the midfield area, and he has good foot skills. Trent basically has two years of experience but has three years left for us. He was a starter as a freshman at Tennessee Wesleyan in their best year in recent years. Two areas we need to improve are our back line and a holding midfielder who'll do the grit work to protect the back line and break up the attack of the opposing team. Trent will fill one of those roles for us."
Golf
• GREENEVILLE, Tenn. -- Lee University wound up 11th as the NAIA women's golf tournament ended Friday at Link Hills Golf and Country Club. The tournament began with 28 teams, but only 17 played in the final round. Lee's Courtney Shelton had a final-round 77 and tied teammate Geandra Almeida for 25th place individually at 18-over-par 310, and Sloane Skinner and Madison Alexander finished at 318 and 321. The Lady Flames' 1,256 total was 45 shots behind winner British Columbia. First-round leader Shorter was fifth at 1,231.
• DULUTH, Ga. -- Dalton's David Noll Jr. took the first-round lead with a 5-under-par 67 Friday in the Georgia Mid-Amateur golf tournament at Berkeley Hills Country Club. He was the 2007 Georgia Mid-Am champion.