LIVINGSTON, Ala. – Spring Hill College rallied back late after trailing by three runs to defeat West Alabama softball 4-3 in game two and complete the doubleheader sweep at the UWA Softball Complex Wednesday. The Badgers took game one 10-0.
Spring Hill extends its win streak to eight to improve to 34-7 overall, while the West Alabama slides to 16-20.
The Tigers took their 3-0 lead in the bottom of the third inning in game two with a three run home run by
Ashley Stassin. They protected their lead up until the seventh inning despite giving up a run in the fifth and sixth innings.
Trailing by one run in the top of the seventh, Jenna Charnock tripled and then scored on a passed ball to tie the game. Mary Beth Glass then brought in the winning run off of a double.
The Badgers took control of game one, scoring their first four batters courtesy of a grand slam by Sam Leach in the top of the first inning. A RBI single by Stewart in the third and five runs in the fifth gave SHC its first victory of the day.
Leach led Spring Hill with three total runs and six RBI; five in game one. She finished 3-for-7 at the plate.
Caroline Sagrera (25-6) pitched every inning in both games for the Badgers to pick up two wins. She gave up three hits in each game and struck out 18 total batters on the day.
"I tip my hat to their pitcher," said UWA head coach
Will Atkinson.
"We've seen her in four games now and she's limited us to just a handful of hits. She throws a lot strikes and has a rise ball that is very appealing to our hitters. We just didn't make the hits we needed. We need to be more consistent with our hitting than we were today.
"We pitched better in the second game that gave us an opportunity. We just have to throw strikes. The game winning run got on by a walk. Spring Hill is a good ball club, but the bottom line for us is that we didn't make the adjustments at the plate."
Giana Cavallaro (1-4) entered in the seventh inning of game two and gave up one hit and the game winning run to take the loss. She relieved Stassin who struck out three and allowed nine hits.
Alli Hall (9-14) pitched all five innings of game one to record the loss. Nine of the Badger's 10 runs were earned, as Hall struck out two and walked seven.
West Alabama returns to Gulf South Conference action on Saturday, taking on Union University (Tenn.) in a three game road series. First pitch of game one is set for 1 p.m.
"Midweek games are big, but our focus now is on Union," Atkinson said. "We are still in the hunt to get that GSC Tournament berth. We will travel to Jackson, Tenn. this weekend and see if we can't stir things up in the conference."
