West Florida opened up a six run lead and held on for a 6-3 victory over the Lee softball team to avoid the series sweep on Saturday afternoon on a brisk day at Butler Field.
Lee took the first two games of the series in a doubleheader sweep yesterday. The Lady Flames are now 7-4 overall and 2-1 in the Gulf South Conference. The Argonauts improve to 7-3 and are 1-2 in league play.
West Florida jumped out to a 4-0 advantage in the top of the first to chase Lee starter Angie Hughes (3-3) after just 1/3 of an inning. Kathleen Smiley drove in a run on a single up the middle to start the rally before Rhiannon Sassman delivered a three-run homer.
Hailey Clark came on and worked 6 2/3 innings in relief for the Lady Flames. Clark allowed just four hits and two unearned runs. The sophomore struck out five and yielded just one walk.
The Argonauts would tack on two more unearned runs in the fifth inning to push the lead to 6-0.
The bats would finally come alive for head coach Emily Russell’s club in the bottom of the fifth. Lexie Dean continued her hot start at the plate with two-run double to left center. Emily Dagnan followed with a single up the middle to score Dean.
Lee leadoff hitter Amanda Lynn finished with three hits and scored a run. Courtney Crawford and Stevie Baird also added one-base knocks to round out the seven-hit attack.
West Florida’s Becca Taylor (4-1) started and went the distance for her fourth win of the year. Taylor allowed three runs on seven hits to go along with four punchouts.
“Today is another step in the process. We have to learn from this moving into next weeks’ games,” said Russell. “The only loss would be if we don't make the corrections that we noted today. We are looking forward to getting some good work done Monday and Tuesday before King (Tenn.) comes to town.
With temperatures barely reaching above 30 degrees the two clubs had difficulty fielding the ball cleanly. Lee was charged with seven errors while West Florida had six fielding miscues.
King will visit Butler Field for non-conference doubleheader with the Lady Flames on Wednesday. First pitch is set for 2 p.m.