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GULF SHORES, Ala. The Lee softball team made it a clean sweep on day one of the 2019 season with a 4-2 win over Embry-Riddle on Friday afternoon to open up the Gulf Shores Invitational.

Earlier in the day the Lady Flames blanked Tuskegee, 4-0. Lee will square off with No. 5 Saint Leo on Saturday at 5:30 p.m. before battling Miles College at 8 p.m.  The weekend will wrap up with Lander on Sunday at 10 a.m.

Bailey Church delivered the big blow with a two-out three-run homer in the bottom of the third inning to give the Lady Flames a 3-1 advantage.

The Eagles threatened in the fifth inning as they loaded the bases with nobody out against reliever Taylor De Adder. The freshman wouldn't be shaken however as she preceded to strike out the next two batters and ended the threat with a fielder's choice.

De Adder, who earned her first collegiate victory in the circle in game one, earned her first career save after finishing the final three frames allowing one run on four hits while striking out four.

Sophomore righty Shonna Penny (1-0) started and was credit with the victory for Lee. She tossed the first four innings, yielding just one run on four hits.

Kayla Gooch made it 4-1 Lady Flames with a run-scoring single in the fifth inning scoring Lily Hatcher. Gooch singled twice and scored in the contest. Hatcher, the sophomore speedster finished 2 for 3 with a pair of singles.

The Eagles scored a run in the fifth off De Adder on a Scott single but would not draw any closer. Scott led Embry-Riddle with three hits and scored a run.

Lindsay Hop (0-1) threw all six frames for ERAU. She gave up four runs on eight hits and fanned eight batters.

"We had some young players and players playing new positions make a big impact for us today," said Lee head coach Emily Russell. "Taylor threw well in both games for us and really showed poise for a freshman in working out of some tough spots in the second game. We got good production at the plate from Kayla, Kiley (Longmire) and of course the big bomb from Bailey was the difference maker offensively for us in game two and came with two outs.

"Shonna gave us a good start and Stevie (Baird) worked well in relief and threw strikes in game one so it was nice to get her in the circle during live game action," added Russell. "Defensively we were very solid and we ran the bases well and had seven steals so all in all it was a good start to the season. We look forward to getting right back to work tomorrow."
 
GAME 1 - LEE 4 TU 0

Behind the pitching of  De Adder and  Baird the Lee softball team opened up the 2019 season with a 4-0 blanking of Tuskegee University to kick off the Gulf Shores Invitational on Friday afternoon.

De Adder, a freshman from Maple Ridge, British Columbia, got the nod in the circle and fired four shutout innings to earn her first collegiate victory. Baird, a three-year starter at third base, got her first look in the circle as a senior and shut the door with three scoreless innings of relief to earn the save.

The Lady Flames scored two in the third to take the early advantage as Lily Hatcher reached on error to score Claudia Jones. Hatcher would score on another Tiger error later in the frame to make it 2-0.

Church made it a three-run advantage with a double down the left field line to score Longmire in the fourth inning. Longmire would get her first RBI as a Lady Flame an inning later with a run-scoring single to center that plated Baird.

Tuskegee was guilty of five errors in the contest while Lee played errorless ball. The Tigers managed just two singles in the game.

Chelsea Mowery (0-1) was tagged with the loss as she worked all seven innings allowing four runs, two earned, on eight hits.

The Lady Flames were aggressive on the base paths with four steals and were thrown out just once.