LEESBURG, Fla. (May 13, 2023) - Lake-Sumter State College came agonizingly close to pulling an upset in the NJCAA Division II Softball South Atlantic District Championship Series, falling to NJCAA No. 2 Louisburg (N.C.) College, 6-5 in eight innings on Saturday, in the third and deciding game between the two teams. 

Darrah Nickens led off the bottom of the eighth with a solo homer over the right-centerfield fence to send the Hurricanes to the NJCAA Division II Softball World Series in Spartanburg, S.C.

Plenty of drama preceded the final swing of the game. 

Despite playing on its home field, Lake-Sumter State was the "visiting" team on Saturday and took a 1-0 lead after one-half inning. Alexis Adams' solo homer in the fourth pushed the lead to 2-0. 

Louisburg got a run back in its half of the fourth then exploded for four runs an inning later to seize a 5-2 lead. 

The Lakehawks, who ended Louisburg's 56-game winning streak with a 4-2 triumph in the second game of the series, were not about to fly away quietly. 

Raquel Camuglia's two-run homer in the sixth pulled Lake-Sumter State within a run, and Makenzi Heaton's solo shot in the seventh tied the game. 

Lakehawks ace Ali Shenfield pitched a scoreless sixth and seventh before seeing her first pitch of the eighth clear the wall.

Louisburg (60-3) claimed a 9-1 win in Friday's first game. 

Lake-Sumter State ends its season with a record of 43-19.