KINGSPORT, Tenn. -- At the Appalachian Athletic Conference Championship tournament on Friday, the No. 1-seed Reinhardt College softball team had its record-setting 2010 season end with a 5-3 loss in eight innings to the fourth-seeded Virginia Intermont College Lady Cobras. The eight-team double-elimination event is being played at Domtar Park with the winner earning the AAC's automatic bid to the NAIA National Championship tournament.  

In the first inning, Reinhardt scored once before Virginia Intermont tallied three runs in the bottom half. The Lady Eagles, who received 78 votes in the latest NAIA poll to rank 27th nationally, tied the game at 5-5 with two unearned runs in the fifth inning but the Lady Cobras pulled off the upset on a two-run home run with one out in the bottom of the eighth.

Reinhardt finished with an 8-7 edge in hits but left 12 runners on base, compared to five for VIC. Virginia Intermont was guilty of four errors and the Lady Eagles three.

For Reinhardt, freshman Lindsey Booker was 2-for-4 with a walk and a run scored while Cali Lovett also scored a run after going 2-for-4. Haley Williams went 1-for-2, twice being hit by pitches, and scored a run while Alex Riccardi finished 1-for-3. Bailey Arnaud doubled while Ashley Kennedy chipped in with a single.

Three Lady Eagles pitched in the contest, combining for nine strikeouts and no walks. Becca Jones started before Kelsey Floyd took over and allowed just one hit and no runs with three strikeouts over 3 2/3 innings. Freshman Maddie Monroe, the 2010 AAC Pitcher of the Year, took the loss after working the final 3 1/3 innings, giving up three hits with six strikeouts.

Under third-year head coach Glen Crawford, the 2010 AAC Coach of the Year, Reinhardt concludes its season at 40-11 overall after a third-place showing in the AAC Tournament while the Lady Cobras take a 22-27 mark into the event's championship round against the sixth-seeded Union College (Ky.) Lady Bulldogs. At 14-2 in conference contests, the Lady Eagles won the AAC regular season title by four games. Reinhardt set several single-season school records in 2010, including those for wins, shutouts (23), longest winning streak (11 games) and most victories to start a season (seven).