2025 SoCon Softball Championship Bracket

Greenville, S.C. – Senior Katheryn Rearly tossed a five-hit shutout and Mercer posted a pair of four-run innings to down Furman, 9-0, in the regular season finale for both teams Sunday afternoon at Pepsi Stadium.
 
The victory gave Mercer (31-23, 11-9 SoCon) a sweep of the three-game Southern Conference series and the No. 5 seed for this week's SoCon Softball Championship at Wofford's Hope Field in Spartanburg, S.C. No. 8 seed Furman (15-37, 5-16 SoCon) will again face the Bears in the opening game of the tournament, a single elimination matchup, at 10:00 a.m. on Wednesday. The winner will advance to face Wofford in the double elimination portion of the tournament at 4 p.m. on Wednesday.
 
Mercer used a two-out rally to break a scoreless tie in the top of the third inning to take control of Sunday's finale. Tori Hedgecock reached on an error and Grace Jones singled ahead of Hannah Rivers triple of the left-centerfield wall that plated two runs. Sydney Harris and Sietske Drijvers followed with RBI singles to up the Mercer to lead 4-0. 
 
After the Bears added a run in the fourth on Parris Wiggs' RBI double, they pushed across four more in the top of the fifth inning. Rivers' leadoff single sent the Paladins to the bullpen and reliever Angelina Ricciardi retired the first two batters she faced before a four-pitch walk and a hit batter loaded the bases with two outs. Hallie Langford and Wiggs worked bases loaded walks to force in runs to chase Ricciardi and Hedgecock greeted Emme Buzhardt on her return to the circle with a two-run single to extend the margin to 9-0.
 
Rearley fanned six batters without allowing a walk to pick up her second win of the weekend and up her record to 6-2. Buzhardt (6-14), who started the game for the Paladins before returning in relief in the fifth inning, was charged with the loss after allowing four unearned runs on seven hits over 3.1 innings of work.
 
Eight of the nine batters in the Mercer order registered at least one hit while Wiggs, Hedgecock, and Rivers drove in two runs apiece. Caitlin Goldwait and Sylvia Burroughs each recorded a pair of hits for the Paladins.