GULF SHORES, Ala. – After having to wait a day to open the 2020 season due to rain on Friday the Lee softball team rolled to a doubleheader sweep on day one of the Gulf Shores Invitational on Saturday evening.
The Lady Flames took down Nova Southeastern to open the day, 2-1 thanks to a complete game from Lulu Vasquez and shutout Miles, 8-0 behind a combined no-hitter from Shonna Penney and Gracie Leslie.
"We had a good start to the season. We had great pitching from Lulu, Shonna and Gracie and that helped us settle in offensively," said Lee head coach Emily Russell. "I look for us to continue to settle in and work together offensively more tomorrow."
Sophomore Taylor De Adder led the Lady Flames offensively with five hits and four RBI on the day.
Lee will wrap up the Gulf Shores Invitational tomorrow as it plays Lubbock Christian at 10 a.m. and Union at 12:30 p.m. Despite being in the GSC the Union game will be classified as non-conference. The two clubs will not play a GSC series this year due to the unbalanced schedule.
GAME 1
Vasquez (1-0) sparkled in her Lee debut in the circle as she tossed all seven innings allowing six hits and one run while striking out seven.
After shutting out the Sharks for six innings Vasquez ran into trouble in the seventh as the Nova Southeastern bats woke up with three straight hits in the seventh to cut the lead in half and put the tying run on third with nobody out. From there however, Vasquez dug in and got a fielder's choice and back to back ground outs to close out the win.
DeAdder got Lee on the board early with a single up the middle in the top of the first to score leadoff hitter Kayla Louie who opened the contest with a single.
Louie drove in the crucial insurance run for the Lady Flames in the fifth inning with a hard-hit single to left field to score Madison Besaw who doubled earlier in the frame.
Alex Suzuki drove in the lone run for the Sharks with her double in the seventh inning. Allie Janowiak had two singles.
Emily Hess was the tough-luck loser in the circle for Nova Southeastern as she went the distance allowing just six hits and two runs while fanning five and not allowing a walk.
GAME 2
The Lady Flames held off a late rally in game one but there was nothing to sweat in game two as the Lee offense woke up with eight runs on nine hits while Penney and Leslie combined for a no-hitter and allowed just three walks in an 8-0 victory over Miles College.
Vasquez got the scoring going for Lee with a double down the right field line scoring Abby McKinney. Zoe Miller followed with a run-scoring single to right field to make it 2-0.
Two more runs were tacked on in the third inning aided by an error from Miles allowing the inning to continue. DeAdder singled home two more runs in the fourth to put Lee ahead comfortably, 6-0.
The Lady Flames completed the run-rule victory in the sixth inning. Brooklynn Frazier drove in a run with a bases loaded walk and came around to score on the fifth error by Miles to end the contest.
Penney (1-0) tossed the first four scoreless innings and registered five punch outs. Leslie cleaned up the last two innings in relief and struck out a pair.
Rich (0-1) went all 5 2/3 innings for Miles allowing eight runs, four earned on nine hits. She walked three and struck out two.
