Spartanburg, S.C. - Second-seeded Kennesaw State (33-23) eliminated the sixth-seeded Stetson softball team (26-22) from the A-Sun tournament with a 2-0 win over the Hatters Friday afternoon at USC Upstate's Cyrill Stadium. Senior shortstop Chelsey Trotto (Lantana, Fla.) had one of Stetson's two base hits in her final career at-bat.
The Hatters, who had lost 3-0 to top-seeded FGCU earlier in the day, couldn't get any offense going against Owls pitcher Abbey Mixon. Mixon shut Stetson out on two hits and a walk with seven strikeouts. Junior catcher Jordan Cleghorn (Ball Ground, Ga.) had Stetson's other single on the game.
A-Sun Player of the Year third baseman Jessica Cross opened Kennesaw State's scoring with an RBI double in the bottom of the second while a throwing error on an Owl single in the bottom of the third allowed an insurance run to cross the plate.
Freshman pitcher Courtney Brandt (Dade City, Fla.) started and was charged with the loss while sophomore Meredith Owen (Jackson, Miss.) relieved for the second time today and struck out three in 4.1 innings.
Stetson is slated to return six of its 10 everyday starters next season, including A-Sun All-Freshman Team pick Brandt and two-time Second Team All-Atlantic Sun center fielder Chrissy Morello (Ormond Beach, Fla.) as well as Owen, Cleghorn and others. Brandt finished with the second-highest home run total (eight) by a Hatter freshman in program history.
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