Kayla Louie was 2-for-3 in Saturday's win at West Alabama. (photo courtesy of Jordan Allison – UWA Athletic Communications)
After dropping the first two games of the Gulf South Conference weekend series with West Alabama, the Lee University softball team posted a 3-1 win in Saturday’s finale to improve its record to 14-18 overall and 11-13 within the conference.
With the win, the Lady Flames moved into seventh place in the GSC standings with a one-game lead on Montevallo with two weekends remaining. Delta State and West Alabama follow with 11-16 conference marks.
Kayla Louie and Annalyn Ormsby were the only Lady Flames with multiple hits.
Louie was 2-for-3 with a run scored and Ormsby was 2-for-3 with an RBI triple and a run scored. Abby McKinney delivered a triple and Shelby Cole singled to complete Lee’s six hits.
Cassie Matlock and Nicole Buccieri evenly split four of West Alabama’s nine hits. Matlock and LP Trammell tallied one double each.
The Lady Flames opened the scoring in the first inning. Louie singled, stole second and advanced to third on a passed ball. With one out Taylor De Adder lifted a flyball to right field for a sacrifice fly.
West Alabama (15-19, 11-16 GSC) threatened in the fourth inning with bases loaded and just one out. Madison Barnett worked out of the jam with a fielder’s choice out at home and a groundout to third.
Lee added two insurance runs in the top of the seventh to push its lead to 3-0. McKinney led off with a triple. Ormsby followed with an RBI triple and Cole’s bunt single plated Ormsby for a second run within the first three batters of the inning.
The Tigers began the bottom half of the seventh with a double by Trammell. Two outs later, Matlock singled to push Trammell to third. Kacy Noland followed with an RBI single to cut the Lee advantage to 3-1. After Matlock and Noland moved to third and second on a wild pitch, Barnett induced a game-ending groundout
The Lady Flames will return home to face Mississippi College next weekend for their final home series of the regular season. The teams are scheduled for a doubleheader at 1 p.m. on Saturday and a single game on Sunday at 2 p.m.