LIVINGSTON, Ala.– The West Alabama Softball team returned home from a long road trip and split a non-conference doubleheader against the Columbus State Cougars Wednesday in the UWA Softball Complex. The Tigers dropped the first game 6-3 and won the second contest 9-6.
UWA moved the record to 20-16 on the season while CSU leaves Livingston, Alabama with a 26-12 record.
The Cougars erupted for five runs in the second inning starting with a Paris Poston sacrifice fly to left. Madeline Parker singled to left to allow Elizabeth Perdue to come around and score, Chandler Desrochers singled in a run and Maddie Dodson doubled to left as two runs came across for to grab the 5-0 lead.
Kacy Noland broke the seal for the Tigers in the bottom of the second with a double that brought in
Jenna Goldsmith and
Kailey Hunt to cut the lead to 5-2.
Both offenses fell silent until the top of the fifth where Elyse Ambrose hit a homer that bounced off the left field wall to push the lead to 6-2.
In the bottom of the fifth,
Grace Self smashed a single to center which allowed the speedster
Lee Lee Parker to slide in home all the way from second to pull the game to 6-3 which stood as the final.
Game two saw Columbus State score the first run with an RBI single to put the Cougars up 1-0.
Self responded with a double to center in the bottom of the opening inning to bring in Noland and tie the ball game at 1-1.
Then in the top of the second, Desrochers hit a sacrifice fly and Poston tagged and scored to put CSU up 2-1.
Kirstin Reynolds hit a two-run homer to left in the third to push the lead to 4-1.
Nicole Buccieri smashed a single to center which allowed Parker and
Alli Craft to score,
Kierra Hague hit a hard ball back to the pitcher which allowed Buccieri to score and then Noland hit a sacrifice fly to center which let
Kailey Hunt tag from third to put the Tigers up 5-4 in the bottom of the third.
UWA extended the lead in the fifth when Noland bounced a hit over the pitcher's head, Hunt scored from second on the play.
Chrissy Tubbs followed that with a single to left and
Kendall Johnson came in for a run.
Alli Craft reached with an infield single and an error by the second baseman allowed Tubbs and Noland to come in and go up 9-4.
CSU's Ambrose got her second homer of the day over the left field wall to cut the lead to 9-5. Reynolds scored as Madeline Parker reached on a fielder's choice to make it 9-6, but the Cougar rally ended there as UWA came away with the victory.
Nora Keehn (11-6) pitched all seven innings with two strike outs along with eight hits and four earned runs in game one.
Kacy Noland started game two and pitched two innings with seven hits and four earned runs.
Kamree Lay (3-3) pitched 4.1 innings in relief for the win and earned four strikeouts along with four hits and two earned runs.
Kat Burks recorded the final two outs to preserve the win.
Self continued her hot streak for the Tigers as the freshman at third base is on a season long seven game hit streak with nine RBIs in the last five games with at least one in each of the five.
West Alabama returns to action Friday, weather permitting, in Gulf South Conference action against the #7 Alabama-Huntsville Chargers. First pitch in Livingston is set for 6 p.m.
