The Lee softball team opened up Gulf South Conference play with a doubleheader sweep of West Florida on a chilly Friday afternoon from Butler Field.

The two clubs will wrap up the three-game set on Saturday with a single game beginning at 1 p.m. The Lady Flames improve to 7-3 overall and 2-0 in the GSC. West Florida sees its five-game winning streak snapped and are now 6-3 overall and 0-2 in league play.

GAME 1 - LEE 4 UWF 3
Angie Hughes (3-2) went the distance and struck out five batters to lead the Lady Flames to a 4-3 in Friday's opener.

The senior from Blairsville, Ga. worked all six innings and allowed three runs on six hits while walking five.

The Lady Flames gave Hughes the advantage in the sixth inning as senior Amanda Lynn singled home Macy Stovall. The decisivie run would score on a West Florida fielding error off the bat of senior Emily Dagnan.

Becca Taylor (3-1) started and was tagged with her first loss of the season for the Argonauts. Taylor allowed four runs (two earned) on eight hits in six innings. She walked two and struck out two.

West Florida jumped out to an early 3-0 advantage in the third frame. Jacey Castro singled home Rachel Wright to center to open the rally. Kathleen Smiley followed with a RBI single to center and Rhiannon Sassman finished things off with a run-scoring double.

Lee would jump on the board in the fifth inning as Dagnan singled to drive home Lexie Dean. Hallie Davis would reach on a fielder's choice after a West Florida throwing error allowed Dagnan to score to cut the lead to 3-2.
Dean finished with three hits and is now batting .543 (19 of 35) through the first 10 contests.

GAME 2 - LEE 7 UWF 6
After jumping out to a comfortable 7-2 lead in the nightcap the Lady Flames held off a late comeback charge from the Argonauts to complete the sweep with a 7-6 victory.

Jacey Castro brought West Florida to within one run with a two-out double to right field in the top of the seventh.

Sophomore Bri Eichbaum was able to dance around the trouble and retire the Argos' Kathleen Smiley on a nice play deep in the hole by Amanda Lynn at shortstop. Lynn glided to her right to field the grounder and made a strong throw across the diamond to end the contest.

Eichbaum (2-0) went the distance in the circle for the home team and was charged with five earned runs on eight hits. She walked just one batter and fanned three.

Dagnan got the Lady Flames on the board with her second home run of the season in the third inning. She also added a double and scored twice.

Courtney Crawford was a perfect 3 for 3 at the dish for Lee and tallied two RBI and two runs scored. Rachel Polacek and Lynn each had two base knocks.

Sarah Maloney (3-1) started and tossed the first five innings for West Florida. She was tagged with six earned runs on 11 hits while striking out five. Kalyn Chapman worked the sixth inning and allowed one hit to go along with a strikeout.

Meghan Toney led the Argonauts with three hits and scored three runs. Castro and Smiley each drove in a pair.