CHATTANOOGA, Tenn.– The Lee University softball split the final day of the Chattanooga Invitational. In the early contest, the Lady Flames easily handled Ohio Dominican University 10-2 in just five innings. They then lost the second contest of the day 7-3 to the #9 West Texas A&M University Buffs. Lee concluded the invitational with a 3-1 record and improved their overall record to 3-3.
GAME 1-Vs Ohio Dominican
The Lady Flames jumped out of the gate very quickly scoring four runs in the top of the first. Eva Armstrong started with a walk and a stolen base, Hailey Simco then brought her home with a triple. After a double play, Addi Lewis hit a solo home run, her first of her career. The final run of the first came on a Katelyn Hastings double to score Alyson Jarvi.
Lee added a run in the third behind a Jarvi home run to make it 5-0. Madison Pinzon hit a solo home run in the top of the fourth to get the inning started. It was the first of her career as well. Armstrong got on base via an ODU error. Then Simco double to put two on nase. Sadie Winsett brought both home with a double. Winsett then scored a few batters later when Addison Emmerson walked with the bases loaded. Jarvi scored the final run of the game for Lee.
ODU scored their two run in the bottom of the fourth. They used a single and two doubles to score the two runs. Lee went on to win the game 10-2.
Kaylee Wilson got the win for Lee. She threw four innings and gave up two runs on four hits. She walked one and struck out four. Sadie Winsett threw one inning in relief and gave up one hit and struck out one.
Winsett and Hastings each had two RBI in the win while Jarvi scored three runs.
GAME 2 vs West Texas A&M
The Buffs started quickly scoring three runs in the bottom of the first. A solo home run, walk, and a single scored the three runs. They added their final four runs in the bottom of the fourth. Three singles, a double and a steal plated the four runs.
Lee got on the board in the top of the third. Pinzon singled to lead off the inning. Winsett brought her home with a triple. The final two runs came in the top of the seventh. Pinzon drove Simco home and Armstrong hit a sac fly to score Hastings.
Ella Baker took the loss for Lee. She threw one inning and gave up five runs on four hits. Layne Bailey threw five innings in relief giving up two runs on six hits with two strikeouts.
Pinzon had the most hits with two in the loss while three different players had RBI.
Lee will head back on the road on Tuesday with two games at Young Harris.
Coach Emily Russell's Thoughts:
"Major improvements from week one to this week. We looked frazzled last weekend and you could see we had a lot of freshman out there. This weekend we made it to a place where we were more confident in who we are and what we were doing. We had some good wins and some big performances."
