Belhaven softball wins conference tournament championship in inaugural affiliation year

JACKSON, Miss. (WLBT) - Belhaven softball has been crowned the 2023 Collegiate Conference of the South conference tournament champions Maryville College in a doubleheader championship series Thursday.

The Blazers have won two-straight conference tournament titles and their first CCS tournament championship in their inaugural season affiliated with the league. They claimed the regular season title as well, sweeping the conference’s team trophy cabinet for the 2023 season.

Belhaven never trailed in the two-series tournament finale at their home field, Jim McCleod Field, against the Scots, defeating Maryville 5-3 in game one and 8-2 in game two.

“When you set goals at the beginning of the year and you find yourself meeting those goals, that’s pretty special, and that means we’ve got a bunch of girls who come out every single day and just work hard,” head coach Kevin Griffin said. “They just know what the task is at hand and you know we check that box. We won the conference championship. Now, we want to get that at large bid and make some more noise.”

Across the two games, the CCS Softball Pitcher of the Year, Kennedy Carruth, earned the two victories in the circle after pitching a complete game in the series opener, fanning six batters and allowing just three hits and three earned runs. In game two, she threw five innings, allowing two hits, an earned run, and struck out seven batters.

“It’s really special to me. We didn’t think we’d be able to host it on our on field,” Carruth said. “So, being here and having our own fans and not having to travel really means a lot to us. Coming out here and just being able to get the job done without having much on them... it’s pretty cool.”

First baseman Ellie Jones had a remarkable performance at the plate in both games, batting 4-6 with three home runs and seven RBIs in the championship series.

The Blazers will have to wait until May 15 to see if they receive a bid to NCAA DIII Softball Regionals.

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