MARION, N.C.— The Montreat softball team played its final two scheduled home games for the 2022 regular season on Wednesday afternoon against the Bryan College Lions. Montreat battled to the end in game one, falling to the visitors in 10 innings, 4-1, before dropping a 16-3 five-inning affair in game two. With the two Appalachian Athletic Conference (AAC) defeats at Big League Camp in Marion, N.C., the Montreat softball team slid to 4-33 (2-18 AAC) on the year.
 
Game one proved to be quite the pitchers' duel between the Cavaliers and the Lions. Candace Cooper, who was making her 10^th start of the campaign, delivered one of the most impressive pitching stretches seen from a Cavalier this year. Cooper struck out five Bryan hitters across 10 innings pitched, allowing only five hits and four runs across those frames. The Marion, N.C. native was even better earlier in the contest, pitching 6.1 innings before giving up her first hit.
 
Bryan's pitcher had a solid day in the circle as well, getting out of a few bases-loaded jams when the Cavaliers were threatening in the second and third innings.
 
With the Lions shut down offensively for the better part of the ballgame, it was Montreat who struck first in the fifth frame. After AJ Martin Aiken ripped a double to left center, Cameryn Bass snuck a single up the middle to score Martin Aiken and put Montreat ahead, 1-0.
 
Bryan (19-13, 15-3 AAC), who had done little against Cooper, broke through just in time, plating a run on a fielder's choice in the seventh to force extra innings.
 
Neither team found much success in the eighth and ninth frames, but in the tenth, Bryan turned the tide. A three-run shot gave the visitors their first lead of game one, a lead they didn't relinquish in the bottom half of the inning as the Lions ultimately took the contest in 10 innings, 4-1.
 
Martin Aiken (2-5), Abigail Christopher (2-4) and Katie Johnson (2-5) were responsible for six of Montreat's seven hits in the defeat.
 
Game two was a different story. Bryan put the pedal to the metal early and often, scoring in each of game two's first four innings, including an 11-spot in the second. The Lions sent 17 batters to the dish in the second frame, all part of what was a 16-0 advantage entering the bottom of the fourth.
 
The Cavaliers pushed a trio of runs across in the fourth to trim their deficit to 16-3. Coleena Selleck, Johnson and Jayda Treaster all tallied RBI knocks to plate three runs and build a little bit of momentum. Unfortunately for Montreat, the momentum came too late, as the Lions held the Cavs off the board in the fifth to shut the door on their 16-3 five-inning win.
 
Leah Coffing struck out a pair of Lions in her 3.2 innings of relief in the pitcher's circle. Six different Cavaliers recorded a base knock in game two, with Christopher (2-2) serving as the lone Montreat batter to recorded multiple hits.
 
The Montreat softball teams now finishes its regular season with eight AAC road games, starting with a doubleheader at Point University on Saturday. First pitch of game one is set for 2:00 p.m. in West Point, Ga.