HENDERSON, Tenn. - Thanks to some key losses from last year's team and a very tough early-season schedule, the Freed-Hardeman Lady Lions got off to a rough start to the 2014 campaign.

But now, as conference play has concluded and the regular season winds down, the Lady Lions appear to have learned from those early losses and are hitting their stride just in time for the postseason.

Need proof? Take a look at their double-header sweep of Columbia (Mo.) College on Friday afternoon.

The Cougars (26-13, 18-4) came to Morgan Stadium at Associates Field at the top of the American Midwest Conference. When they left, they were no longer looking down the standings at the rest of the field thanks to 1-0 and 2-1 wins by Freed-Hardeman.

The wins assured FHU (20-17, 17-5) of a fourth-place finish in the conference - one game behind Columbia and Park (Mo.) - and clinched home-field advantage in the first round of the conference tournament where the Lady Lions will likely host either Williams Baptist (Ark.) or Missouri Baptist next weekend.

On senior day, it was senior Sarah Elizabeth Cousar who led the way in game one. Cousar, who has fought through some rough outings this year, was in dominant form today in tossing a three-hit shutout. She only ran into trouble once, loading the bases in the fifth with two outs, but coaxed a harmless pop-up to get out of the jam.

Columbia starter Paxton Welch was Cousar's equal for most of the day, but finally blinked in the bottom of the fifth after a leadoff double by Jessica Weeks set the stage for what turned out to be the only run of the game.

Katie Sholl bunted Weeks to third, bringing up FHU's hottest bat in Kamara Trice who took the first of two intentional walks in the game. Freshman Amanda Bond made the Cougars pay, lining a base-hit over the head of third baseman Marli Hayes to score Weeks from third.

Welch worked out of the inning, stranding two runners, but that sole run was all Cousar (11-10) needed as she retired six of the final seven batters and capped the game with her sixth strikeout.

The second game was also a battle of pitchers as Trice and Taylor Richter both shut down the opposition through three innings. FHU, though, broke through in the fourth with four hits and a pair of runs on RBI singles by Trice and Cousar.

Trice (8-3), meanwhile, battled out of a tough spot in the bottom of the fourth after Columbia runners reached second and third with no outs. The junior responded by getting three straight infield pop-ups to escape the inning.

The Cougars avoided being shut out on the day in the bottom of the sixth on a sacrifice fly by Brittiany Tjarks, but missed a chance to do more damage after loading the bases with one out. In the next inning, after Jamie Holmes got a one-out single, Trice fell behind against pinch-hitter Lauren McCloskie before fighting back to strike her out, then got Hayes to pop up in front of home plate to finish off the sweep.

FHU's three seniors - Cousar, Bailey Morgan and Natalie Nelson - were honored between games. All three had hits in the double-header, Morgan barely missing her sixth home run of the season when her shot to left-center in the fifth inning of game two hit the fence.

The Lady Lions will wrap up their regular season on Monday with a non-conference double-header against Bethel (Tenn.) University and will find out their first-round opponent for the conference tournament on Tuesday.