ST. GEORGE, Utah — The top-seeded Chattanooga State softball team rebounded from a 4-1 loss Friday to No. 2 seed Salt Lake Community College and won three games Saturday for the NJCAA Division I national championship. After beating Wallace State of Hanceville, Ala., 7-2 with a five-run eighth inning, the Lady Tigers (62-5) edged Salt Lake 8-7 on Lacye Walker’s two-run home run in the seventh and won the extra game 4-1 on a four-hitter by Ashley Czechner, who pitched 18 of the 22 innings and got all three wins Saturday. Beth Breeden and Andrea Dalton went 3-for-4 and 2-for-3 with a homer and three RBIs apiece and Walker was 2-for-4 and matched Dalton and Chelsea Burgess with two runs in the first win over Salt Lake, whose Maddy Woodard was 4-for-4 with two homers and four RBIs. In the final, Chatt State’s ShelbyJohnson was 2-for-4 with a two-run single in the second inning, Dalton homered in the third and Andie Johnson and MeQuilla Franklin each was 2-for-3. Walker was 2-for-2 with a two-run homer against Wallace State, and in the eighth Courtney DeLay hit a three-run double and Franklin added a two-run homer. Franklin was 2-for-4 and Marina Wilkerson was 2-for-5. “Absolutely amazing — Lacye Walker, Ashley Czechner, our whole team,” coach Beth Keylon-Randolph said. “We got beat last night and it’s hard to come back through, but these kids never doubted.” The team will bus to Las Vegas today and fly home Monday night.
• GULF SHORES, Ala. — Lee University lost 7-2 to Central Baptist in the final Pool D game of the NAIA national softball tournament Saturday, and the Arkansas team had the run-differential tiebreaker to move into double-elimination championship play Monday. Central Baptist, Lee and Reinhardt each was 2-1. The Mustangs (52-6) were the pool’s top seed and scored in the second, third, fifth and sixth innings for a 7-0 lead before Lee (48-11) got its two runs in the bottom of the sixth. Ana Coscorrosa singled, Charlie Wooden and Dezirae Parsons walked and Dominique Hannah drew an RBI walk before Jennifer Ringle singled Wooden home. Coscorrosa was 3-for-4 and Ringle was 2-for-4.
Running
• Former Lee University runner Johnny Clemons missed an event record by five seconds in winning the Scenic City Trail Marathon on Saturday. It was part of the Salomon Rock/Creek Trail Series. Clemons covered the 26.2 miles on the TVA Raccoon Mountain trail system in 2 hours, 43 minutes, 27 seconds. Daniel Hamilton was second in 3:00:42, and Brian Pickett, John Bruno and Eric Loffland completed the top five in 3:05:49, 3:06:20 and 3:12:41. Meghan Lederer was the first female finisher and 22nd overall in 3:33:50, and 51-year-old Doug Strickland was the first finisher beyond 44 years old, 24th in 3:35:38. Lindsey Beckner was the women’s runner-up and 29th overall in 3:39:32. Daniel Mueller won the half marathon in 1:19:41, with Blake Davenport second in 1:20:15 and Lee Wilson third in 1:22:40. Annie Kelly and Alexa Hinton were the top two women in 1:36:14 and 1:36:30, 15th and 17th overall.
Basketball