MARSHALL, Texas – East Texas Baptist clinched the ASC East Division championship Friday, sweeping a pair of games from rival Louisiana College with wins that send the Tigers to the program’s record 12th straight American Southwest Conference Championship Tournament next week at Toyota of Lewisville Railroad Park in Lewisville, Texas.

The fifth-ranked Tigers (32-6, 17-5 ASC) staged a two-run rally in the bottom of the seventh to knock off Louisiana College (28-10, 15-9 ASC) 2-1 in the decisive game two, with freshman Kristin Wersterfer drawing a full-count, two-out walk off Lady Wildcat pitcher Kelly Williams. The walk-off walk handed ETBU its eighth ASC East championship and second in the last three years, while the Lady Wildcats, ranked as high as No. 2 this season, are now out of the running for a berth in next week’s conference championship tournament in Lewisville, Texas.

"I’m very proud of this team for the fact they never quit and always keep fighting,” said Tigers head coach Janae Shirley following the division-clinching victory. "It’s such a tough conference and it’s easy to get down when you’re down in a game, it’s satisfying to see this team fight and win it this year.”

Trailing 1-0 in the seventh, the Tigers – who had been one-hit to that point by Williams, the Lady Wildcats’ senior – started the rally when Beck Young was hit by a pitch to lead off the inning. She was replaced on the bases by Erin Jones, who moved to second as the tying run on Meghan Fisher’s sacrifice bunt.

Williams got the second out by getting Lauryn McCurry to foul out to third, but freshman pinch-hitter Alyssa Romero hit a soft single to center that scored Jones with the tying run. Romero hustled into second on the throw to the plate and was in scoring position as the winning run.

Freshman Jessica Parish then drew a full-count walk as a pinch-hitter, putting runners at first and second. Senior Kaleigh Mushinski then battled Williams with a tough at-bat and coaxed another full-count walk to load the bases.

Wersterfer worked a 3-0 count before Williams battled back with two strikes to run the count full. The next pitch, however, was high and sent Romero home with the ASC East-clinching run.

Williams (8-6) took the tough-luck loss for LC, allowing just two hits in the game with four walks.

ETBU’s Erin Garcia (14-5) allowed a first-inning run on Amber Thomas’ RBI double, but the Tiger sophomore right-hander then settled in and kept the game close. Garcia ended up tossing a complete-game for the win, allowing just one run on six hits and striking out four.

ETBU had clinched its berth in the ASC Tournament with a 5-2 win in game one, getting a victory over LC senior All-American Rene Schwartzenburg. The Tigers jumped on the Lady Wildcats ace with four runs in the first inning – two earned – with the big hit coming on Young’s two-run single.

The Lady Wildcats fought back to within 4-2, but ETBU added a big insurance run in the fifth on Young’s two-out RBI single to left for a 5-2 lead.

Freshman Shelby Parker (12-1) made the lead stand, going the distance by scattering nine hits and striking out four for her 12th win in 13 decisions. It also avenged Parker’s only loss of the year, a 4-3 loss at LC back on March 29 in which LC won with a two-out, two-run single in the bottom of the seventh.

Young finished with three hits in the game and three big RBI.

-Courtesy East Texas Baptist University Sports information Department