Benton's Masterful Pitching and Lady Cavs Timely Hitting Earn First AAC Tourney Title

May 5, 2006
Game 1 Boxscore
Championship Game Photos

2006 AAC Tournament Champions
Lady Cav Seniors Krystal Showers, Courtney Brannon, Dani Benton and Ashley Addington

Bristol, TN -- Dani Benton continued her masterful pitching and the Lady Cavs received some timely hitting to earn their first Appalachian Athletic Conference softball tournament title. For the second time in less than two days, Benton kept Tennessee Wesleyan scoreless while Alicia King and Krystal Showers drove in runs for the UVa-Wise 3-0 win.

UVa-Wise claimed its first AAC tournament title both under head coach Tori Raby-Gentry and as a program. The Lady Cavs improved to 34-14 on the season and have posted a 32-7 mark since beginning the year 2-7. UVa-Wise will now move onto the NAIA Region XII tournament next week, May 10th and 11th, in Owensboro, Kentucky.

Benton has now blanked Tennessee Wesleyan (23-17) in each of the three games she has faced them covering 24 innings. She has given up only one earned run over 31 frames on the mound for the year against the Lady Bulldogs. The shutout was the senior hurler's seventh on the year and lowered her ERA on the year to 1.19 in 146.2 innings. In the AAC tournament, Benton (17-5) went 3-0 with a 0.27 ERA as she allowed one run in 26 innings.

The Lady Cavs outhit the Lady Bulldogs 12 to three. Both Britney Lawson and Shelley Newton produced three singles apiece. Newton scored two of the team's three runs. King lined a two-run hit and Showers had an rbi single. Amber Quillen and Ashley Addington had the other two hits for UVa-Wise. Benton allowed four hits and walked one Lady Bulldog while fanning three in the seven innings of work. She also scored the first run.

After two scoreless innings, Benton reached on a fielder's choice and went to third on a single to center by Newton in the bottom of the third. Showers ground out to the pitcher to move Newton to second. King stepped to the plate and soundly lined a two-run single to left field for a 2-0 Lady Cavs lead.

Leading 2-0 in the bottom of the fifth, Newton sliced a one-out single to right field. She moved to second on a wild pitch before running home on Showers' base hit to center field for a 3-0 advantage. Benton remained strong the final two innings as Tennessee Wesleyan managed one base runner on a single in the seventh but saw the final of 3-0.