JACKSON, Tenn. – West Alabama softball recorded two eight run innings on the way to a 21-8 game two victory over Union University to split a Gulf South Conference doubleheader at Fesmire Field Saturday. Union took game one 6-3.
West Alabama moves to 17-21 overall and 9-16 in the GSC, while Union changes to 24-15 and 12-13.
"Getting the split on day one still sets us up to win the series on Sunday," said UWA head coach
Will Atkinson. "I felt like we were the better ball club all day long. We had five unearned runs in game one that was the difference. We made the adjustments at the plate in game two and played much better defense."
Five of the first six batters in the Tiger lineup scored on three hits to take an early 5-0 lead in the top of the first inning of game two.
Emily Bennett led-off the game with a triple for Union. She went on to put her team on the board in the first courtesy of a single by Reagan Schrader. Carter Mansolino brought in another run with a double, before scoring herself to cut the Tigers lead to 5-3 in the same inning.
UWA resumed its hitting streak in the top of the third inning with eight runs on five hits and one Union error.
Ashley Stassin capped off the inning with a grand slam that gave the Tigers a 13-3 lead.
After the Bulldogs cut the lead down to 13-7 with four runs in the fourth inning, West Alabama hit around the lineup to add eight more runs in the top of the seventh inning. The Tigers strung together five RBI singles in a row and
Lacey Santiago added a two RBI single to secure the victory.
UWA totaled 19 hits and only one error in game two, while Union had nine hits and two errors.
Stassin finished the game 3-for-5 with her 11th homer of the season. She totaled five RBI and three runs, along with four other Tiger hitters.
Treasure Rodriguez led the team in game two with four hits in five at-bats.
Stassin (7-2) also picked up the win in the circle for the Tigers. She allowed seven earned runs on seven hits and struck out one through four innings.
Giana Cavallaro entered in the fifth to pick up her fourth save of the year, allowing only one earned run.
Union jumped ahead in game one with three runs in the first and one in the second.
Miriah Chavez cut the game back down to one run with a three-run home run in the top of the fourth.
Back-to-back RBI at-bats by Whitney Christian and Carlie Brickley put Union back up by three runs in the fifth inning.
UWA out-hit the Bulldogs 7-6 in game one, but committed three errors, while Union had none.
Six different UU batters recorded hits, led by Caylee Crews with two RBI on a double in the first inning. Carter Mancolino led with two runs.
Chavez finished game one 2-for-3 with her fourth homer of the season.
Freshman Audrey Diekman recorded the Tigers first triple of the season in the third inning of game one. She combined to hit 5-of-8 on the day, including 3-of-5 in game two with two runs and four RBI.
Kelly Robey (21-10) pitched all seven innings of game one to pick up the win. She struck out six batters and walked three.
Alli Hall (9-15) took the loss, but allowed only two earned runs on six hits.
The series will conclude with game three on Sunday at 1 p.m.
"Tomorrow will be big for us to get an opportunity to go to the conference tournament," Atkinson said.
