Box Score 1 | Box Score 2
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NEWPORT NEWS, Va. -- The Christopher Newport University softball team swept a doubleheader against Chowan University in the regular season finale, but the Captains 11th straight win would take a back seat to other news coming out of the Capital Athletic Conference office. CNU (32-6) dropped the Hawks (15-29) with the eight-run rule in both games, winning in five innings, 11-3 and 12-4. Elsewhere, the CAC regular season was closing as Salisbury swept Frostburg State to earn a share of the 2014 regular season title, but an official tiebreaking coin toss was won by the Captains and Christopher Newport captured the top seed in next week's league tournament. 

CNU earning the top spot in the 2014 CAC Tournament ends an impressive run of 18 straight years for Salisbury as the top seed in the annual event. In the Captains' first year in the CAC, head coach Keith Parr guided the team to a share of the title by posting an 11-1 mark in conference action. The tournament will be held at Captains Park starting Thursday, April 17, with game times scheduled for 10:00 am, Noon, 2:00 pm and 4:00 pm. Top-seeded CNU will play the winner of game one in the 2:00 pm contest. The tournament will continue on Friday and Saturday and a full schedule will be available at CNUsports.com. 

In the regular season finale with the Hawks, the CNU offense continued to roll with its third- and fourth double-figure scoring games of the weekend. After scoring a record 50 runs in Saturday's doubleheader against Wesley, the Captains chipped in 23 more runs on Sunday, pounding out 28 hits in the twin bill. 

It was the power of the long ball that was on display in the first game, as CNU blasted four home runs and added a triple in support of sophomore starter Hanah Marshall. Junior Sabrina Hill had two dingers, while Jenna Sprinkle and Taylor Dillow added round-trippers as well. 

Chowan got on the board first, scoring an unearned run in the first inning. Tori Cragan singled to center field to lead off the game, and eventually came around to score on a wild pitch later in the inning. 

The Captains would quickly take the lead in the bottom half, though, with three runs on two hits. After senior Candice Zollars reached on a hit-by-pitch, she trotted around to score on a triple by Meagan Jones. Kristina McLaughlin plated Jones with a ground ball to the second baseman, bringing up Hill with one out and nobody on. The junior right-hander hammered the first pitch she saw high above the left field wall, capping a three-run first that gave CNU the early lead. 

The Hawks added another run in the second, and again in the third, but CNU's offense continued to add to its lead with two in each of those innings. Jones added another RBI with a single into right field in the second, and rookie Rachael Shiflett added an RBI single in the third. 

In the bottom of the fourth, CNU would tack on four runs to take an eight-run lead. With one out, Hill stepped in and blistered a powerful liner over the left-center field wall to start the barrage. After Karlee Holzbach reached on an error, rookie Jenna Sprinkle and senior Taylor Dillow went back-to-back with homers of their own. Sprinkle followed Hill over the left-center field wall with a mammoth shot, while Dillow's laser cleared the left field wall and banged off the scoreboard for the fourth run of the inning.

Marshall retired the side in the top of the fifth to close out the win. She improved to 10-3 on the season after tossing five innings with two strikeouts and no walks. She allowed three runs on five hits in the complete game victory. 

Hill and Dillow each finished 3-for-3 in game one, while Sprinkle, Shiflett and Jones added 2-for-3 efforts. 

In game two, the game started off in similar fashion, with Chowan taking an early lead in the top of the first. Courtney Baker hit a two-run home run for the Hawks, but the CNU offense quickly responded in the bottom half. Hill continued her stellar day with an RBI single up the middle, while catcher Kelsey Lewis followed with an RBI single past the third baseman. The Captains threatened for more, but a hard-hit liner off Sprinkle's bat was caught, starting an inning-ending double play. 

A seven-run second inning put CNU in early position for another easy victory. Playing station-to-station softball, the first two batters reached on singles and moved up on a sacrifice bunt. After a walk to Zollars loaded the bases, Jones, McLaughlin and Hill each posted run-scoring singles in the next three at-bats. Hill drove in a pair with another hard shot into right field. Lewis hit a sacrifice fly, while Alexis Pope and Shiflett added two more RBI knocks later in the inning, capping a huge seven-run, eight-hit frame. 

Chowan cut the lead to 9-4 in the fourth when catcher Jordan Burland-Card plated a pair of runs on a single into center field, but that would be as close as the Hawks could get as CNU walked off in the bottom of the fifth. Needing three runs to close out their second five-inning win of the day, the middle of the CNU offense stepped up to do just that. 

The bases were loaded when Hill stepped in and nearly ended the game herself, but just missed the walk-off homer, forced to settle for a long sacrifice fly to score the first run of the inning. Lewis followed with a bouncing ball up the middle to score Jones and set up the game-winner. Sprinkle was hit by a pitch to load the bases again, bringing up Dillow in her final regular season home game. The fourth-year second baseman wasted little time, scorching the first pitch she saw up the middle to plate the game-winning run. 

Krista Lewis started game two, and captured her 17th win of the season with three strikeouts in the complete game. She gave up just four hits, walked three and allowed four earned runs. 

Hill added four RBI in another 3-for-3 performance, while Kelsey Lewis and Dillow each also added three-hit efforts. 

In the two-game set, Hill was 6-for-6 with six RBI and three runs scored. Jones finished 4-for-7 with four runs scored and three RBI, while Dillow's 6-for-7 included three runs scored and two RBI. The senior had the game-winning hit in both games. 

CNU closes out the regular season on an 11-game winning streak, headed into the CAC Tournament winners in 16 of their last 17 games.