Cassie Daniels allowed just two hits in her sixth complete-game shutout of the season, and Leslie Kelly had a key two-run triple in the fifth inning to propel the Auburn Montgomery softball team to a 3-0 win over Mobile in its opening game at the Southern States Athletic Conference tournament.

The Warhawks (40-8) will next play Spring Hill in a winner’s bracket game at 1 p.m. tomorrow afternoon. Mobile (28-21) will face either Southern Wesleyan or Brewton-Parker in a loser’s bracket matchup at 11 a.m.

“I thought we had great at bats all night,” head coach Chris Steiner-Wilcoxson said. “I would have liked to have seen a few more hits with runners in scoring position, but we had a lot of people playing in their first conference tournament game so it was nice to get off to a good start. I was a little nervous about having to sit around all day, but they were really fired up and ready to play.”

AUM’s matchup was the last of six games played today at R.G.

Senior Will Ruffin scattered just five hits in eight strong innings of work, but a one-out single by Reagan Rutledge in the bottom of the seventh plated the eventual game-winning run, as Auburn Montgomery fell 2-1 to Belhaven in game two of pool play at the Southern States Athletic Conference Baseball Tournament on Wednesday.

The Warhawks (32-23-1) will conclude pool play on Friday, when they challenge Southern Poly at 11 a.m. AUM fell in its opening pool-play game to Faulkner on Tuesday.

Ruffin kept the Blazers (37-20) off balance for much of the game, allowing just back-to-back singles in the first inning before three consecutive hits in the seventh. He struck out one and issued one walk in the tough-luck loss.

“I think this was the best game Will has thrown for us,” head coach Q.V. Lowe said. “He gave us everything he had, but we just weren’t able to get key hits for him. We had some opportunities, but in a close ball game, you have to capitalize.

Faulkner scored five times in the top of the first inning and the first nine runs of the game en route to a convincing 19-6 seven-inning victory against Auburn Montgomery in the opening game of pool play at the Southern States Athletic Conference Baseball Tournament on Tuesday at Golden Park.

The Warhawks (32-22-1) were led by Wes Hughes’ three hits in the contest, including a run-scoring triple in the seventh inning. Josh Thompson posted a pair of hits and scored once, while Hughes also scored twice in the game. Chad Mansmann extended his 15-game hitting streak with a third inning single.

Sergio Sanchez continued his dominance of AUM at the plate, driving in five runs on two of Faulkner’s 15 hits in the game. Sanchez opened the scoring with a three-run home run off Warhawk starter Daniel Farrar (5-2).