ELON, N.C. – A walk-off, two-run home run by junior Allee Seering in the eighth inning lifted the Elon University softball team to a 5-4 victory over Evansville on the Phoenix's third day at the Elon Softball Classic on Saturday, Feb. 10 at Hunt Softball Park.
 
Seering's round-tripper gave the Phoenix (3-1) its third win of the weekend so far while helping Elon head coach Kathy Bocock reach 299 career victories at Elon. Evansville fell to 0-4 on the young season.
 
At the Plate
• Elon had seven hits in the game with Seering accounting for most of that total after going 3-of-4 at the plate with two runs scored with a pair of RBI. Mauri Murray also had a multi-hit day for Elon, going 2-of-3 with an RBI. Kaitlyn Wells also drove in a run for the maroon and gold.
 
In the Circle
• McKenna McCard picked up her first win of the season (1-0) after tossing the final 0.2 innings for the Phoenix. Starter Isley Duggins pitched 4.0 innings while allowing two earned runs with three strikeouts. Taylor Cherry appeared in 3.1 frames in relief, yielding one earned run with a strikeout.
 
The Rundown
• The Purple Aces scored the first run of the game in the top of the first. Evansville's Jess Willsey drove a one-out single to right field, scoring Marah Wood, who reached earlier in the frame on a leadoff single.
• Evansville doubled its lead in the top of the second. Keghan Pye reached on a one-out walk before advancing to second on a wild pitch. She would eventually cross the dish with two outs on an RBI single from Zoe Frossard to put the Purple Aces ahead 2-0.
• Elon responded in the home half of the second to score its first run. Gabi Schaal reached on a leadoff single and moved to second another single from Murray. A sac bunt advanced both runners into scoring position, but an errant throw from second base allowed Schaal to score to cut the Phoenix's deficit to one, 2-1.
• The Phoenix tied the contest in the bottom of the third. Seering was able to reach on a two-out single before stealing second to move into scoring position. Elon would capitalize as Kaitlyn Wells singled to center, pushing Seering to home to tie the game at two-all.
• The Purple Aces retook the lead in the top of the sixth. Down to its final out in the frame, Wood scored her second run of the game after advancing home on an RBI single by Brooke Voss.
• Murray answered with a clutch hit in the bottom of the frame. The Phoenix had a runner on with one out after a fielder's choice before a fly out pushed the Phoenix down to one out. Elon's Ella Roberson stole second to move into scoring position, which proved to be very important as Murray drove a single through the left side. The play allowed Roberson to tie the game on the RBI with both teams going into the seventh frame.
• Neither team generated any offense in the seventh innings, leading to extra innings. With international tiebreaker rules in effect, Evansville scored to take the lead, 4-3, after a sac fly by Frossard.
• Elon quickly responded in the home half of the eighth. Regan Hartley was placed on second to start the inning before stealing third to put the tying run even closer to home with Seering coming to the plate. The Waxhaw, N.C., native took a 1-0 count over the wall in center field as her first homer of the year gave the Phoenix the 5-4 walk-off win.
 
On Deck
The fourth and final day of the Elon Softball Classic concludes on Sunday, Feb. 11 with the Phoenix facing Appalachian State at 2:30 p.m. The game will be streamed on FloSoftball.