COLUMBIA, Ky. – The Lindsey Wilson softball team faced elimination twice on Friday. Yet even as the rain fell in the morning and the battle waged on into the evening, the Blue Raiders never faltered as they advance to day four of the Mid-South Conference tournament behind a pair of exciting wins.

Brooklynn Becker, who is batting 8-for-16 in the postseason, hit 4-for-8 for a second consecutive day, while Elizabeth Funk drove in three runs with her 4-for-5 effort at the plate.

In the circle, Kayden Murray improved to 18-6 with another set of victories and allowed just two earned runs on 11 hits with seven strikeouts.

 
Game One: Lindsey Wilson 8, Cumberland (Tenn.) 0 (5 Inning)

Mother Nature threatened a delay midway through Lindsey Wilson's first outing of the day, but the Blue Raiders made sure that the weather was not going to be an issue, finishing off the Phoenix in five.

Funk delivered the first run of the game in the bottom half of the first inning on an RBI-single to plate Becker, then an infield error followed by an RBI-single by Kelsie Bostock in the third frame extended the Blue Raiders' lead to 3-0.

Kendall Dailey later drove home Becker by means of a base-hit through the right side in the fourth, which put Lindsey Wilson in the driver's seat moving into what proved to be the final inning.

In the fifth, Grace Adams subbed in relief of Murray and faced the minimum with two strikeouts to keep Cumberland off the scoreboard and hold the Phoenix to only one hit for the game.

On offense, Lindsey Wilson got to work quickly and loaded the bases on a walk to Natalie Wandrie, and back-to-back fielder's choices to Bostock and Madyson Jones. An infield miscue off the bat of Melaina Tucker pushed across Wandrie, and the Blue Raiders capped the game for good thanks to a hit-by-pitch, walk, and single by Funk to force the run-rule.

 
Game Two: Lindsey Wilson 3, Campbellsville (Ky.) 2

The nightcap of Friday's quadruple header was worth the wait.

As was the case in the earlier game, Funk opened the scoring in the first frame on an RBI-double to left field, scoring Brylee Pickerell.

After two scoreless innings immediately after, Lindsey Wilson relit the spark in its offense in the fourth and earned one run on a hard-hit infield-mishandle from Wandrie and another on a clutch, two-out, pinch-hit single by Katie Lorenz.

The Tigers did not go away easily, however, etching their first run in the bottom leg of the fourth inning before cutting the deficit to one run with a solo home run in the fifth.

From there, the Blue Raider bats were neutralized, leaving the fate of the night up to the defense.

In the sixth, Campbellsville put one runner at second base, but a fly out to center field and double-up throw from Pickerell to Funk at third emphatically ended the inning.

The Tigers, again, placed a runner on in the seventh with one out. Only this time, she did not get past first base as Olivia Franceschi and Natalie Wandrie combined to record the final two outs to clinch the win.

 
Lindsey Wilson will return to South Warren High School at 1 p.m. CST on Saturday for a rematch with No. 4 Cumberlands (Ky.). If the Blue Raiders defeat the Patriots, they will challenge Freed-Hardeman (Tenn.) at 3:30 p.m. CST.