A big first inning and a quality relief effort from Taylor Moran helped catapult the Lee softball team to an 8-6 victory and series sweep over Delta State on Sunday afternoon from Butler Field.

The Lady Flames jumped on Delta State starter Brittany Taylor (1-1) for six runs in the first inning sending 11 batters to the plate. Lee benefited from two errors, a hit-by-pitch and two walks.

Leigh Beatenbough (6-3) battled through four innings allowing nine hits and six runs. She struck out four and walked one to earn her sixth win of the season. Moran slammed the door shut on the Lady Statesmen as she tossed three scoreless innings in relief to record her third save of the year.

Abby McKinney was a perfect 3-for-3 at the plate and had two RBI to lead the nine-hit attack for the Lady Flames at the dish. The freshman leads the team with a .471 batting average. Brooklynn Frazier added a pair of singles and scored two runs while Leigh Beatenbough singled, walked and drove in one.

Kory Watterson put Delta State up briefly in the top of the first as she launched a two-run home run to left field. Carah Nunez added two singles and Jordan Jones doubled in a run in the fifth inning to cut the lead to two before the Lady Flames called on Moran.

Trailing 8-4 in the third inning Delta State called on Mari Alex Sandridge to pitch the final 3.1 innings. She allowed just three hits and no runs to lower her ERA to 0.84.

"Clearly we dug ourselves many holes and did not play well defensively and we can't give Gulf South teams that kind of an advantage. I think because of that we put some undue pressure on our pitchers but they responded well," said head coach Emily Russell. "We used four different pitchers in various situations this weekend and Taylor coming in today was huge for us to not let that game get away in the end."

The sweep moves the Lady Flames to 13-5 on the year and 4-2 in the Gulf South Conference. The Lady Statesmen fall to 7-10 overall and 1-5 in the GSC.

Lee will now gear up for an eight-game road trip beginning with a non-conference tilt at No. 4 North Georgia on Wednesday. The Lady Flames will visit West Georgia next weekend and No. 24 North Alabama, Mar. 11-12.