FLORENCE, Ala. – The Lee softball team survived elimination with a 5-3 victory over Montevallo and secured the program's first Gulf South Conference Tournament win in program history on Friday afternoon.
Erika Greek (5-4) got the call to start in the circle for the Lady Flames and earned the victory. The junior hit a batter, gave up a hit and a walk in the first inning but thanks to the cannon arm of catcher Brooklynn Frazier and a heads up play by Stevie Baird she worked out of it with a caught stealing and double play.
Greek settled in from there going 5 2/3 innings allowing four hits and two runs. Senior Leigh Beatenbough came on in relief with two on in the sixth. She gave up a walk and a run-scoring single before retiring the side with a strikeout to preserve a 5-2 lead. Beatenbough allowed a sacrifice fly in the seventh but slammed the door to earn her second save of the year.
"Montevallo has a lot of speed but our pitchers did a great job of keeping them off the bases throughout the game today," said head coach Emily Russell. "We made a few miscues defensively that let them back into the game but Leigh did a nice job of closing it out after a quality start from Erika."
The Lady Flames got on the board with a three spot in the second inning on a wild sequence of events. Gooch smashed a ball of the glove of the Montevallo third baseman. The ball hit baserunner Stevie Baird but she was alertly back on the bag and able to score as it deflected to shallow left. Lily Hatcher followed Baird home and was ruled safe after obstruction was called while Gooch came all the way around to score following a throwing error. The play was officially ruled a two-run double.
Gooch would also flash the leather as she made a sensational diving catch in right field to take away a hit in the top of the third.
"I've seen that type of ball drop too many times this season so I just made an all-out attempt to catch it and wanted to make sure it didn't drop today," said Gooch. "We wanted to keep the pressure on them all game with being aggressive at the plate and on the bases and that play in the second inning was a great representation of that gameplan."
Claudia Jones added to the lead as she jacked a solo home run to right center to lead off the bottom of the third. The junior has been on fire of late as she has five four-baggers on the season, four coming in her last five games.
Abby McKinney made it three straight innings with a run as she roped a two out RBI single to center in the bottom of the fourth.
"I'm so proud of the girls for fighting today and battling back," said Russell. "This is such a tough tournament with some many quality teams that anytime you can get a win its something to be very proud of. I thought we kept the pressure on them and were really aggressive in every facet of the game."
Alexis Bonanno (12-9) started for the Falcons and lasted 1.1 innings giving up three runs, two earned on five hits. Jessica Boyd pitched an inning of relief and gave up one run while Mychael McMillan followed with 2.2 innings of work and gave up one run on three hits. Abbey Pratt worked a scoreless sixth to finish things off in the circle for Montevallo.
The Falcons would not go quietly however as they scored two runs in the sixth and a run in the seventh. Lauryn Garcia got Montevallo on the board with a two-out single to center in the sixth. Holly LaForce added an infield single to second to give the Falcons their second run.
Lady Sarah Federico hit a sacrifice fly in the seventh to bring the Falcons within two but Beatenbough closed the door to secure the postseason victory.
The Lady Flames are now 1-2 all-time in GSC Tournament play and improve to 28-28 on the year. Lee will play the loser of Alabama Huntsville and Valdsota State tomorrow at 1:30 p.m. Montevallo season comes to a close at 32-16 overall.
