Rock Hill, S.C. - The Gardner-Webb Runnin' Bulldogs saw its 2011 season come to an end on Friday night, as the No. 2 seeded Liberty Flames used a four run fifth inning to down No. 6 Gardner-Webb 6-1 in the semifinals of the 2011 Big South Softball Championship presented by Musco Lighting.

Gardner-Webb picked up a bunt single in the first by sophomore Jordyn Arrowood and a single to left field in the second by junior Jane Savage, yet was unsuccessful in plating a run over the first two innings pushing its scoreless streak to nine innings.

However, the Runnin' Bulldogs snapped the scoreless streak in the top of the third, as freshman Samantha Meenaghan beat out a bunt single to third with one out. After the next GWU hitter struck out for the second out of the inning, junior catcher McKenzie Morenus hit a ball off the end of the bat to first. Liberty's first-baseman threw the ball away trying to get Morenus out at first, while in the process alert base running by Meenaghan allowed her to score all the way from first base on the play and give the visitors the early 1-0 lead.

Liberty, who had two hits over the first three innings, picked up back-to-back two-out singles by Kelly Strickland and pinch hitter Jill Stephens in the bottom of the fourth only to have the next Lady Flame batter to ground out to GWU's Rachel Jablonski at third to end the inning.

Looking to add an insurance run in the top of the fifth, freshman designated player Emily Bowman led off the inning with a walk and was moved up to second on a Melinda Dulkowski sacrifice bunt. However, the next two GWU hitters popped out to kill the threat and keep the score at 1-0 in favor of the Runnin' Bulldogs.

In the bottom of the fifth, Liberty's Keely McMillon led the inning off with a single to center field. After a fielder's choice and a hits batsman, a GWU throwing error loaded the bases for the Lady Flames with only one out. With one out, Meredith Crisante singled to right field to plate two runs and put Liberty up for the first time of the game at 2-1.

The very next Liberty hitter, Kaylee West singled to right field to drive in Jenny Law from second and push the Lady Flames in front by two at 3-1. After a Liberty strikeout, the Lady Flames pushed across another run on a passed ball, as Crisante scored from third to give the Lady Flames a 4-1 lead after five innings of play.

Gardner-Webb senior Kelsey Witter lined a two-out single up the middle in the top of the sixth, yet to no avail as the next Runnin' Bulldog hitter popped out to end the inning.

Liberty put the game away in the bottom of the sixth, as Amber DePasquale blasted a two-run home run to left center field to push the Lady Flames in front by five at 6-1.

In the seventh, GWU picked up infield singles from Bowman and Meenaghan, yet it wasn't enough, as Liberty held on for the 6-1 win.

Liberty's Katrina Johnson (15-13) picked up her second consecutive win of the day over GWU, allowing one unearned run on six hits, while striking out two in the complete game win.

Cindy Boomhower (8-15) was handed the loss, as the redshirt-junior gave up four runs, three of which were earned, on seven hits, while striking out one in 4.1 innings of work.

Offensively for GWU, Meenaghan was 2-4 with a run scored, while Bowman, Witter and Arrowood all had one hit for the contest.

For Liberty, who will take on either No. 1 Radford or No. 5 Coastal Carolina, Pasquale was 2-3 with a two-run home run and two runs scored, while Crisante was 1-3 with two RBIs and a run scored.

Gardner-Webb finished the season at 18-28 overall, going 2-2 in the conference post-season tournament with wins over No. 3 Presbyterian and No. 7 Winthrop on Thursday.

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