LUBBOCK, Texas (April 23, 2016) – A grand slam home run by the nation's home run leader, Morgan Colburn, sparked Lubbock Christian softball to complete the three-game Heartland Conference sweep of Newman with a 9-5 victory on Senior Day at PlainsCapital Park Saturday.

GRAND
The Jets (18-35, 7-17) jumped out in front first with a home run to left field by Taylor Mannis in the top of the fifth inning. In the bottom of the inning the Lady Chaps (42-12, 19-5) led off with three straight hits by Katlin Reed, Lindzi Clemmer, and Ashton Bell loaded the bases for Colburn who hit her NCAA leading 23rd home run to put LCU up 4-1. Newman would get two more runs in the sixth before the Lady Chaps would plate five more runs of their on in the inning with Sammie Murrietta leading off the inning with a solo home run. Sydney Beuthien followed with a single. Reed singled for the second time in the game before Shlay Denison pinch hit with a single of her own to load the bases. Beuthien then scored off the bat of Bell. Katera Eltsosie followed with a shot off the left field foul pole to score herself, Reed and pinch runner Savanna Luke. The Jets would score two additional runs in the top of the seventh.

IN THE CIRCLE
Kelsey Hoppel (3-0) started in the circle for the Lady Chaps going five innings allowing only one run off three hits while striking out four Jets to notch her third win. Hoppel was relieved by Katlyn Holmes (1) who threw the final two innings allowing four runs off four hits to earn her first save of the season. Katie Ingles (7-11) threw five innings surrendering six runs off nine hits. Jensen Cromer threw the final inning for Newman allowing an additional three runs off four hits.

CONFERENCE TOURNAMENT
The win secured the Lady Chaps finish second in the Heartland Conference regular season. No. 1 seed St. Mary's will host the Heartland Conference tournament in San Antonio. LCU will be the No. 2 seed and open play on Thursday at 1:30 p.m. against the No. 3 seed, which will most likely be Oklahoma Christian. Go to www.lcuchaps.com for all links to watch and listen to the tournament games.

SENIORS
Ten Lady Chaps were honored on Saturday - nine seniors and one junior player who is graduating early. Here is a summary of their career highlights.

#2 – ABBI WHITE
Abbi is only a junior in her playing eligibility, but has completed her degree in three years. In her three seasons with the Lady Chaps she has amassed a 16-3 record. She has pitched 87 total innings striking out 33 batters with four complete games along the way and one shutout. After graduation White plans to attend dental school.

#3 – ASHTON BELL
Bell is a four-year starter who came to LCU from Frenship High School. Ashton has played in 213 Lady Chap softball games with a career .343 batting average. Bell has accumulated 232 hits in her career driving in 157 runs with a .677 slugging percentage. She has 50 doubles, nine triples and 39 home runs. Ashton stole 51 bases in her career at LCU. Ashton plans to attend Graduate school and pursue a Master's degree in sports management.

#4 – KATLIN REED
Katlin also has played all four years of her career at Lubbock Christian. Reed graduated from Lubbock Coronado High School. She has played in 183 games in a Lady Chap uniform hitting .321. Katlin has 81 runs-batted-in off 108 hits. Reed has 15 doubles, a triple and 18 home runs in her career slugging .421 with 31 stolen bases. After graduation Katlin plans to attend Texas Tech and get a Master's degree in Sports Management.

#7 – MOLLY DAVISON
Molly came to LCU from North Central Texas College playing the final two years of her career with the Lady Chaps. In that time Davison has played in all 98 games while achieving a .375 batting average with 106 hits and 79 runs-batted-in. In her career she has 27 doubles, two triples and 20 home runs with a .696 slugging percentage. After completing her Bachelor's degree in Business Management Molly plans to attend law school.

#9 – SHLAY DENISON
Denison has played her entire college career at LCU with 41 career starts behind the plate. Shlay has two doubles and has driven in 12 runs while hitting .279 over her collegiate career. Upon graduation she plans to attend nursing school.

#12 – KELSEY HOPPEL
While playing four years as a starter for the Lady Chaps on the hardwood, Hoppel joined the softball team last season to play only last year and not joining the squad this season until the basketball team completed their undefeated run to the NCAA Div-II National Championship. In her short time with softball Hoppel has amassed a 15-3 record in the circle with a 2.50 earned-run-average. She has thrown nine complete games, which includes three shutouts. In 98 innings of work she has struck out 61 batters. After graduation next week Kelsey plans to either teach and coach or work in professional baseball.

#17 – LIZ TORRES
Liz came to Lubbock Christian after a very impressive career in junior college at Howard College. In her two years with the Lady Chaps Torres has played in 93 games hitting .386. She has 11 doubles and 20 home runs. Liz  has driven in 73 runs off 95 hits with a slugging percentage of .675. She has managed to draw 46 walks along the way. Torres plans to intern with the Lady Chaps in the fall before graduating in December and moving on to graduate school.

#20 – SAVANNA LUKE
Savanna Luke came to the Lady Chaps after completing her playing career at Cloud County Junior College. In her two seasons in a Lady Chap uniform Luke has appeared in 11 games and combined to assist in a shutout earlier this season. In her 10 innings of work Savanna has struck out 10. After completing her Business Marketing degree next week Luke plans to move back to Katy, Texas closer to family and pursue a job in marketing/sales.

#21 – MORGAN COLBURN
Colburn played her first two collegiate seasons at Odessa College before transferring into LCU in the Fall of 2013. She played the 2014 season before redshirting last season. In her two years wearing number 21 for the Lady Chaps Morgan has hit 39 home runs with a .864 slugging percentage. She has a career .401 batting average with 121 hits including 23 doubles while driving in 112 runs. She has been walked 57 times. After graduation all Morgan want to do is go snowboarding.

#25 – SAMMIE MURRIETTA
Sammie also came to the Lady Chaps after completing her career at Odessa College. In two seasons with LCU she has started every game. Murrietta has 103 hits, 29 doubles, a triple and nine home runs in a Lady Chap uniform. She has a career batting average of .334 and a slugging percentage of .497. She has driven in 68 runs while being walked 46 times. After graduation Murrietta plans to go into a Radiography program.