Lady Bisons takes series against Mercer, Smith Stadium dedicated

Lady Bisons takes series against Mercer, Smith Stadium dedicated

The dedication of Smith Stadium had the Lipscomb softball team hitting their stride, winning three in a row this weekend against the Mercer Bears at Draper Diamond. The softball stadium was officially dedicated to Michael Smith and his son Derek Smith, who are owners of Rio Grande Fence Company. The Smiths are heavily active in the softball program, giving the university one of the best fields in the Atlantic Sun Conference, if not nationally. The field was dedicated to the Smiths after the 9-1 blowout win against Mercer on Saturday afternoon, and right before the 5-4 win that took eight innings to get it done. Their streak continued on Sunday when they hosted Mercer for the third and final game, and after trailing 1-0, they forced extra innings yet again and senior infielder Kelsey Cartwright drove in the winning run. “Well, yesterday, [Mercer’s pitcher] was jamming me a lot, so I was expecting more in, but the pitch before was out,” Cartwright said. “Thankfully, Paige [Neely] got on to even give me the opportunity, but they came back again with the outside, and I was able to luckily get a hit up the middle.” Neey, the junior infielder who scored the winning run, also contributed heavily on both sides of the ball all weekend for the team. She said both sides were needed in each win. “Their team definitely kept us motivated, Neely said. “They were scratching and clawing, and we just had a motivation to not let them win and that went from defense to offense.” The weekend sweep puts the Lady Bisons at 34-9 overall and 14-6...