CLEVELAND, Tenn. –Two strong offensive showings for the Lee University softball team led them to two wins over Cedarville University on Saturday with a 9-2 and 10-1 win. Lee swept Cedarville in three games to move to 7-1 on the year. Next weekend the Lady Flames will open Gulf South Conference action at Delta State University in Cleveland, Miss.
GAME 1
Cedarville opened the game with a two-run home run in the top of the first. Ella Leonard drove in Caitlyn Colley to give their first lead in the series. Lee responded in the bottom half of the first. The first four batters reached safely for Lee. Alexa Scalzo singled and then stole second. Ana Macha followed that up with a single. A Hailey Simco double brought Scalzo home to be the first run of the game. Javaria Smith had a sacrifice fly to bring Macha home. After a Rylie Goodridge hit, Bella Galloway had a sacrifice fly to score Simco and Lee led 3-2 after one inning.
Lee added three more runs in the bottom of the third. Galloway hit a single and drove Smith home for Galloway's second RBI of the game. A Natalie Toups single scored Goodridge. The final run of the inning came when Scalzo was walked with the bases loaded. The walk brought Galloway home and Lee led 6-2 after three innings.
Two more runs came in the fourth for Lee as Goodridge had a double that drove in Simco. Goodridge then scored on another sacrifice fly from Galloway.
In the fifth, Lee's Simco brought Ava Perkins in for the final run of the game as Lee won it 9-2 scoring nine unanswered runs.
Madison Barnett got her first win of the year. She threw six innings and gave up two runs on five hits while striking out three. Alaina Watson ended the game throwing one inning and had one strikeout.
At the plate, Galloway led the way with three RBI. Simco and Goodridge each had two hits as well.
GAME 2
Lee scored three runs in the first and never looked back in a 10-1 win in game two. In just five innings Lee had 11 hits while only giving up six from Cedarville.
Once again in game two, the first three batters had hits to start the game for Lee. Scalzo had a single as did Macha. Simco drove in Scalzo with a single and there was also an error which allowed Macha to score. Galloway brought the final run of the inning in with another sacrifice fly and Lee led 3-0 after one frame.
Cedarville got their only run of the game in the top of the second on three hits with Ella Mitchell driving in therun. Scalzo scored in the bottom of the second off of another error by the Yellowjackets to make it 4-0.
Lee then scored six runs in the bottom of the fourth to blow the game wide open. The Lady Flames used six hits and two errors to extend the lead. Macha had an RBI scoring Kaelin Ault while Perkins scored on a throwing error. The next batter, Simco reached on a fielder;s choice and then an error by the shortstop allowed Scalzo to score as well. Anysten Metcalf added a RBI and Galloway drove in two runs with a double to make it 10-1. Watson then closed out the game in the top of the fifth.
Natalie Pruitt-Geesey won her fifth game of the year. She threw four innings and gave up one run on five hits. Watson threw the final inning and gave up one hit.
Galloway had three more RBI in the win which gave her seven RBI for the weekend. Scalzo was three for three at the plate in game two and scored all three times. Simco also added two runs and two RBI in the win.
Coach Emily Russell's Thoughts:
"We had some opportunities to grow this weekend with the weather delay yesterday and the push back on time today. It is good to work through things like that early in the season by focusing on what you can control. We had a lot of strong offensive production and timely hitting. We are focused on continuing to get better each time we hit the field. In the circle Alaina Watson made some adjustments and closed out both games today. Madison Barnett and Natalie Pruitt-Geesey both threw well and provided stability for the defense. It was a good weekend."
