Lady Flames Softball Splits Double Header With Valdosta State

  • Friday, March 24, 2017
Lee freshman Zoe Miller flashes some leather at second base during Friday’s doubleheader against the Blazers.
Lee freshman Zoe Miller flashes some leather at second base during Friday’s doubleheader against the Blazers.
photo by Lee University
The Lee softball team split Friday's doubleheader with No. 5 Valdosta State from Butler Field with a commanding 6-1 victory in game one followed by a nail-biting, 4-3 loss in 10 innings in game two.

The Lady Flames (21-10, 10-7) and Blazers (25-7, 14-3) will play the rubber match of the Gulf South Conference series tomorrow afternoon at 1 p.m.

Game 1 – Lee 6 VSU 1
Leigh Beatenbough scattered eight hits and allowed just one run to lead the Lady Flames past Valdosta State, 6-1 in the opening game. 

Beatenbough improved to 11-4 on the year and lowered her ERA to 2.71 as she kept the league's best offense off-balance throughout the contest.
The Canon, Ga. native worked around four walks and had four punch outs.

Courtney Crawford, playing in her first game back since missing five games with an injury, led the Lady Flames offense with three singles and two RBI. Steve Baird doubled home two runs in Lee's three-run sixth inning and finished with two hits while freshmen Abby McKinney, Brooklynn Frazier and Kayla Louie also had two singles. 

The Lady Flames flashed the leather all afternoon long as they packed up a strong outing from Beatenbough with timely glove work.

Hayley Cruthers singled to left to give the Blazers a brief 1-0 in the top of the third inning as she finished with three hits. Tara McIntyre and Jessica Mohl each added two singles and Lacey Crandall had a one-base knock to round out the eight-hit effort.

Avery Lamb (10-2) was tagged with her second loss of the season for the Blazers as she labored through 5.1 innings of work allowing 12 hits and six runs. Kathryn Carter came on in relief and promptly walked two batters before giving way to Maci Fletcher who got the final out via a strikeout.

Game 2 – Lee 3 VSU 4 
Playing in a familiar spot, the Lee softball team battled into extra innings for the third time in four conference games before they ultimately fell, 4-3 to Valdosta State in 10 innings during Friday's nightcap.

The big blow came on an inside-the-park home run from Tara McIntyre in the final frame to extend the lead to 4-2. The speedy right fielder laced a ball down the left field line that snuck past the diving outfielder and rolled all the way to the wall. 

The Blazers took the lead on an RBI groundout from Jessica Mohl earlier in the inning as they manufactured a run with the international tie-breaker rule (runner starting on second base to begin the inning) in effect.

Lee pushed across a run in the home half of the tenth on a single from Taylor Moran but could not find the next big hit as the game ended on a groundout to the next batter.

Zoe Miller got the Lady Flames on the board first with a run-scoring single in the bottom of the second. Valdosta State would answer back with a sacrifice fly from Taylor Hartenbach in the fourth to tie things up at 1-1.

The score would remain deadlocked until the ninth inning when Brandy Morgan delivered a RBI single for the Blazers to make it 2-1. 

Once again though the Lady Flames refused to go quietly as Stevie Baird delivered a bases-loaded sacrifice fly to tie things back up and force another inning. 

Moran (5-3) tossed all 10 innings in the circle for the Lady Flames and allowed just six hits and four runs (two earned) while striking out seven batters. The freshman has registered a 1.29 ERA over 54.1 innings of work so far this season.

Kasie Johnson (5-2) earned the marathon victory for Valdosta State as she also went the distance, pitching 10 innings allowing 11 this and just three runs (one unearned). She did not walk a batter and struck out four.
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