GULF SHORES, Ala. – Spring Hill College split the final day of the Gulf Coast Invitational Softball Tournament at the Gulf Shores Sportsplex, winning on a walk-off single in the ninth against Union University, 4-3, before being shut out by the University of West Georgia, 8-0, Sunday afternoon.
GAME 1 – Spring Hill 4, Union 3
Union's Alyssa Ward singled down the leftfield line to open the first game Sunday. While she threatened early after stealing third base, she was thrown out at the plate by
Delaney Thomas on a delayed steal for the second out of the inning. However, Haley Barnette followed with an RBI single to drive in Kaitlyn Kelley, who drew a one-out walk and stole second.
The Badgers' first seven hitters were retired in order.
Morgan Kramer broke the trend with a one-out walk, followed by a single to center by
Elise Caruso to help spark a three-run third innings. Kramer went on to score on an error, followed by an RBI single by
Caroline Hart and sac fly RBI by Thomas to take a 3-1 lead.
Union added an unearned run in the fourth inning and tied it in the seventh on a Barnette RBI single. Spring Hill went three-up , three-down in the bottom of the seventh to force extra innings.
In the bottom of the ninth,
Carmen Byrd pinch ran at second to start the inning and was moved to third by Fillmore's sacrifice bunt.
Aly Fowler came off the bench and delivered a walk-off RBI single up the middle
Brenton went the distance in the circle, allowing two earned runs, three total, off seven hits through nine innings of work. She walked five and struck out four. Spring Hill collected only four hits in the win.
GAME 2 – West Georgia 8, Spring Hill 0
Spring Hill notched seven hits off West Georgia's Lindsye Jefferson, but was unable to drive in a run. The Wolves put up four runs in the third inning, one in the fourth and three in the fifth to enact the 8-run rule in the bottom of the fifth inning.
Three of the Badgers' hits came in the second inning to load the bases before Jefferson worked her way out of the jam.
An Allie Parkerson double sparked West Georgia's fourth-inning success. Two of the runs in the inning were unearned as
Olivia Brown gave up only three earned runs among the eight allowed through 4 1/3 innings in the circle.
Ellison led UWG with two hits, while Lexi Close posted two RBI.
Lanae Davis was the only player with two hits for the Badgers against the Wolves.
Up Next: Spring Hill (2-5) will travel to Auburn University of Montgomery for the AUM Invitational on Feb-8-9.
