GULF SHORES, Ala. – The Spring Hill College (SHC) softball team opened play at the annual Gulf Coast Invitational (GCI) at the Sportsplex on Friday morning with a 5-4 loss to the Columbia College (Mo.) Cougars and a 4-3 downturn to the William Carey University (WCU) Lady Crusaders.
 
In the opening game against the Cougars (4-1), Baylie Doiron (0-2) took the loss in relief of Tiffany Hughes. Doiron went 2.1 innings with six hits, no walks and no strikeouts after Hughes lasted 4.0 innings with eight hits allowed, two walks and three strikeouts. Lexi Dickerson (1-1) of the Cougars pocketed the win in 4.2 innings of relief with five hits, no walks and five strikeouts.
 
The Cougars scored single runs in the 1^st, 2^nd and 3^rd innings to open the game, but the Badgers began to peck away with solo runs of their own in the tops of the 3^rd and 4^th frames. In the 5^th inning, 3^rd baseman Randi DeArmitt slapped a ball off the fence in left-center field for a double that brought in designated player Caroline Hart with the tying run from 1^st base. The top of the 6^th inning saw the Badgers take a 4-3 lead via a solo home run off the bat of centerfielder Brooke Vosloh, but the Cougars responded with four consecutive one-out singles to in the bottom of the 7^th to slip away with a 5-4 victory.
 
Versus the Lady Crusaders (6-1) in the nightcap, Hannah Brenton (5-2) suffered the complete-game loss with six hits, no walks and four strikeouts while Lindsey Johnson (3-1) of Carey went six innings with six hits, four walks and three strikeouts. Hannah Monk picked up her first save of the season by pitching the seventh inning with a hit batter followed by three strikeouts.
 
After taking a 2-1 lead in the 3^rd inning off an Aly Fowler pinch-hit RBI-single back up the middle of the infield, SHC was its own worst enemy in the 5^th inning after Carey put a Miranda Busby aboard off a dropped throw from short. Hannah Gasaway then laid down a bunt that she beat out for an infield single, but Busby wandered too far past 2^nd base. SHC appeared to have Busby in a rundown situation, but the throw sailed wide of second base and into right field to bring in both runners, giving the Crusaders a 3-2 lead. Mary Blair Odum followed with a home run to left-center that SHC left fielder Sarah Johnson appeared to have a bead on, but collided with the fence at the same moment that she reached for the catch causing the ball to bounce off her glove and over the wall.
 
In the 6^th inning, Caroline Hart brought the Badgers to within a 4-3 margin with a two-out RBI-single to right, but a groundout to short would end the frame.
 
The Badgers (6-6) will remain in Gulf Shores on Saturday to finish play in GCI beginning at 1:30 p.m. versus the University of Houston-Victoria (UHV) Jaguars (5-5) and at 4 p.m. versus the Blue Mountain College (BMC) Toppers (4-2).