The Lee University softball team dropped two contests to the University of West Alabama on Saturday afternoon at Butler Field. UWA won the first game 6-4. The second game of the double header was a wild contest with 39 runs scored between the two teams. UWA came out on top 24-15 in that contest. The game featured three lead changes and two grand slams. With the losses, the Lady Flames fall to 14-21 overall and 8-12 in GSC action.
Game 1
The Lady Flames got on the scoreboard first as Javaria Smith drove in Alexa Scalzo with a single.
UWA tied it in the second inning. Riley Sullivan was walked and then two sacrifice bunts brought her in to score.
The fourth inning saw UWA take the lead. They scored twice after a couple of walks and two hits. A triple from Taylor Clegg in the fifth set her up to score on a sacrifice bunt to make it a 4-1 lead.
The bottom of the fifth brought a couple runs home for Lee. Rylie Goodridge and Laney Harris each had RBI to score Scalzo and Smith and the Lady Flames just trailed 4-3 after five innings. After a scoreless sixth, UWA hit back-to-back solo homeruns from Marissa Mitchell and Ann Marie Standbridge to make it a 6-3 lead. Lee got one run in the back in the bottom of the seventh when Goodridge drove in Scalzo but that was it as UWA won 6-4.
Scalzo was 2-for-3 in the contest with three runs scored while Goodridge had two RBI. Smith had three of the nine hits for Lee in game one.
Olivia Tyson threw six innings in the loss (8-9) giving up six runs on seven hits. She also had a career high seven strikeouts.
Game 2
Marissa Mitchell got UWA on the scoreboard early in game one with a solo homerun to centerfield in the top of the first. The Tigers exploded for six runs on four hits in the top of the second inning to break the game open. Taylor Clegg hit a three-run homerun and Ann Marie Stanbridge hit a two-run home run to extend the lead.
The Lady Flames answered in the bottom of the second. They loaded the bases and Scalzo was able to drive in Ormsby and Vieux to make it 7-2 after two innings.
The fourth inning saw a massive rally from the Lady Flames. They scored nine runs to take an 11-7 lead. Hailey Simcodoubled to score Ava Perkins for the first run. Then with two outs, Smith reached safely on an error from the third baseman to allow Vieux and Simco to score. Lee then loaded the bases and Ormsby brought in a run with a walk. Alyson Jarvi singled to add one more run. Perkins then hit a grand slam to give Lee the 11-7 lead. It was the fourth home run of the season for Perkins.
UWA answered in the top of the fifth with six runs of their own. They used three hits and two walks to score the six runs. Their rally was capped off by a Marissa Mitchell grand slam as UWA led 13-11 going to the bottom of the fifth.
Lee answered once again with four more runs in the bottom half of the fifth. Two Tiger errors allowed the bases to get loaded. A sacrifice fly from Goodridge and then three straight singles from Harris, Ormsby, and Jarvi brought the four runs home and Lee led 15-13 after five innings.
In the back-and-forth game, UWA retook the 19-15 lead after scoring six runs in the top of the sixth. All six runs came after two outs. They added five more runs in the seventh inning with another three-run home run from Mitchell and UWA won 24-15.
UWA outhit Lee 18-15 in the contest. The Tigers only gave up three earned runs while Lee gave up 19 earned runs. The Lady Flame pitchers gave up ten walks and hit two batters.
Perkins had four RBI to lead the team while three others had two. Eight Lady Flames collected hits in the loss.
The final game of the series will be Sunday April 6 at 1 PM at Butler Field.