CIU Rallies to Stun Koalas 2-0 Despite Warner's Quality Pitching

KINGSPORT, Tenn. -  The 9th seeded Columbia College softball team fell 2-0 to 8th seeded CIU on the first day of the 2025 WinWon Appalachian Athletic Conference (AAC) Softball Tournament from Kingsport, TN.

The first round loss sends the Koalas (19-30) to the elimination bracket where they will face off with #3 seed Truett-McConnell (29-14) Tuesday afternoon. CIU (22-23) advances to face top seeded Reinhardt later Tuesday.

A scoreless pitcher's duel lasted for five innings until CIU hit a sixth inning two-run homer to propel the Rams to the 2-0 victory. Senior starting pitcher Addison Warner (10-10) threw six innings allowing just the two runs on five hits while walking zero and striking out three.

Warner finished the 2025 season leading the Koalas in wins with 10, strikeouts with 111 and ERA at 3.61 over 133 innings (3rd in AAC). Her strikeout total also ranked 6th in the AAC. She was also 6th in conference wins with 8 and was 8th in the AAC in complete games with 11 while 4th in shutouts with three.

Offensively, Columbia was led by doubles from freshman 3B Elaina Seymour and outfielder Lana Hampson while junior DH Ally Boyd and RF Madison Cheek each recorded singles. In the top of the sixth, Columbia put runners on 2nd and 3rd with two outs on a walk from Boyd and a double from Seymour but could not push across any runs.