The Alexander City Outlook

CACC softball rolls along, tennis team makes nationals

It was another doubleheader and another sweep for the Central Alabama softball team on Saturday.

The Lady Trojans beat Marion Military 8-1 and 8-7 in Alexander City to claim their seventh consecutive two-game sweep of a conference opponent. CACC’s 14-game winning streak has the Lady Trojans sitting at 35-10 and 15-1 in the Alabama Community College Conference.

CACC took a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning in game one and added five runs in the fourth to pull away for the 8-1 win.

Vannessa Peterson was 2-for-4 with four RBIs and her fifth home run of the season. Jade Sasser hit a solo shot for CACC, who has not lost since March 27 at Shelton State.

Michelle Gray had two hits and two runs batted in. Haley Johnson (16-5) scattered seven hits in seven innings and struck out three.

MMI scored four times in the third inning to grab a two-run lead, but three Lady Trojan runs in the fourth and sixth innings were enough to give CACC an 8-7 victory. Four CACC errors produced six unearned runs for MMI.

Katie Matchen belted a pair of doubles and drove in a run, and Danielle Backer was a perfect 3-for-3. Sasser had two more hits, including a double, and Summer Lewis was 1-for-3 with two RBIs.

Samantha Hamby (15-3) surrendered one earned run, walked five and struck out eight.

CACC tennis qualifies for national tournament

Snead State edged Central Alabama’s tennis team in the ACCC Tournament in Decatur over the weekend 11-10, but the Lady Trojans’ second-place finish was still good enough to get CACC a spot in the national tournament in two weeks in Tucson, Ariz.

CACC finished first or second in eight of nine positions. Ashley Leverett (No. 4 singles) and the duo of Melanie Reuster and Anna Abrams (No. 3 doubles) came home in the top spot for CACC.

Lauren Blair (No. 1), Julie Dominguez-Suarez (No. 3), Melanie Reuster (No. 5) Mary-Harmon Armstrong (No. 6) all got one win in singles play and lost match two.

The teams of Blair/Dominguez-Suarez and Nathalie Reuster/Leverett won one doubles match each.

Head coach Kathleen Thompson said the tournament was the closest in at least 10 years.

CACC missed the national tournament last year after qualifying the previous seven years straight.