SALEM, Va. -- The Lynchburg Hornets added another walk-off winner to their 2026 resume with a dramatic victory over the Roanoke Maroons, 3-2, in the first contest of the ODAC Championship Tournament Friday night.
With the tying run already home and the winning run 60 feet away in the bottom of the seventh, Sarah Watts delivered the decisive swing, lining a single to center field to bring home Kourtney Kidd and lift the University of Lynchburg softball team to a 3-2 walk-off victory over Roanoke in game two of pod one at the ODAC Championship.
Lynchburg (25-16) totaled seven hits in the win, with Alex Love and Bryanna Orange each recording two-hit performances. Watts drove in the game-winning run and finished with an RBI, while Orange also added an RBI. Helen Maddux scored once and doubled, and Zoë Elliott crossed the plate as the tying run in the seventh after being hit by a pitch. In the circle, Kate Charlton went the distance, allowing two runs, one earned, on six hits with two walks and one strikeout.
Roanoke (20-19) struck first in the opening inning, capitalizing on a Lynchburg error to take a 1-0 lead. The Hornets answered in the second, as Maddux doubled and later scored on an RBI single from Orange to even the game at 1-1.
The Maroons regained the lead in the fifth inning, using a double from Carsyn Michaels to plate a run and move back in front, 2-1. Charlton worked out of further trouble in the frame and settled in, retiring the side in order in the sixth before stranding a runner in the seventh to keep the deficit at one.
Lynchburg's final frame began with Elliott reaching via hit by pitch, followed by a single from Orange. A sacrifice bunt by Layla Lietzan forced a Roanoke error that allowed Elliott to score the tying run, while Kidd advanced to third. After an intentional walk loaded the bases, Watts came through with a single to center, scoring Kidd and sealing the walk-off win.
With the win, Lynchburg advances to face Virginia Wesleyan tomorrow in the next round of the ODAC Championship.
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