CLEARWATER, Fla. – The Lee softball rolled past No. 8 West Chester, 8-2 in game one and came from behind to top Eckerd, 3-2 in game two on Saturday at the NFCA Leadoff Classic.
The Lady Flames are now 6-3 overall and 3-1 on the weekend with one more game remaining. Lee will battle Harding tomorrow at 11 a.m. Eckerd falls to 3-5 and West Chester is now off to a 0-3 start.
"We played two complete games. We fell behind early in both but stayed with our offense approach and we worked some runs," said Lee head coach Emily Russell. "We kept the other team off the bases and if we can play like that we will have the opportunity to win a lot of ballgames. Shonna (Penney) and Stevie (Baird) both threw complete games and were able to be effective for seven innings."
Baird and Penney combined for 14 innings pitched, allowed 10 hits and three earned runs and did not walk any batters.
LEE 3 ECKERD 2
The Lady Flames grabbed their first league of the contest in the top of the seventh inning as Abby McKinney delivered a clutch two-out single to score Kiley Longmire to give Lee a 3-2 advantage.
Penney (2-2) closed the door in the bottom of the seventh as she finished off a complete game performance for her second win of the year. The sophomore gave up just four hits, two runs (one earned) and did not walk a batter.
McKinney got Lee on the board with a single in the third inning after the Lady Flames fell behind 2-0 in the first inning. Longmire tied it in the third on single to left center that scored Hatcher before McKinney and Longmire teamed up for the final inning heroics.
Nikole Van Gennep and Kaylin Kramer each had two singles to account for all of the Tritons offense. Meredith McGinnis hit a sacrifice fly in the first to get the Florida club on the board. The other Eckerd run came in via a Lee error.
Hannah Perkins (1-2) was the tough-luck loser for the Tritons. She also tossed a complete game giving up three runs (two earned) on six hits. She struck out three and match Penney with no walks in the contest.
LEE 8 WEST CHESTER 2
After falling behind 2-0 the Lady Flames scored eight unanswered runs to open play on Saturday with an 8-2 victory over West Chester (Pa.).
Baird (2-0) pitched a complete game for Lee allowing just two runs on six hits. She struck out two and walked a batter.
Baird also made her presence felt at the plate as she got the scoring started for the Lady Flames in the bottom of the third with a two-run double.
Brooklynn Frazier also doubled, walked twice and scored a pair of runs as Lee pounded out 10 hits and drew five walks.
Reilly Gearhart (0-2) started and was roughed up over 2.2 innings allowing seven runs, three earned on five hits. Kelly Tinsman threw 2.2 frames in relief allowing a run on five hits before Rachel Butler pitched the final 2/3 innings.
Courtney Stump had two of West Chester's six hits as she doubled and singled. Alisha Patel and Gearhart accounted for the two RBI's on back to back to singles in the third inning.
