April 6, 2009

Story courtesy of Belhaven Sports Information Office

JACKSON, Miss. - For the first time in school history, the Belhaven softball team swept 10^th ranked University of Mobile on Saturday winning both games of a Gulf Coast Athletic Conference doubleheader over the Lady Rams 9-6 in game one and 5-4 in game two. The sweep was also the first over a top ten team in the history of the program. The Lady Blazers improve to 27-13 overall and 3-5 in the GCAC. Mobile is now 24-7 overall and 3-3 in the league after Saturday’s action.

Game One

Belhaven rallied for the win in game one after falling behind 6-0 before getting three runs in the fourth and six runs in the sixth to overtake the Lady Rams. Mobile got on the board in the second inning with a leadoff home run off the bat of Tess Ackerman which cleared the left field fence.

The big inning for Mobile was the third when they plated four runs on five hits. Abby Campbell led the inning off with a double and scored on a base hit by Ackerman. Ally Scott delivered the second RBI in the inning with a single that scored Jineth Pimentel who had reached base on a walk earlier in the inning. Kirstyn Joiner had an RBI base hit and Taylor Phillips also had an RBI hit to account for the other two runs making the score 5-0 Mobile. In the fourth, the Lady Rams tacked on another run as Desiree Truett singled, made it around to third, and scored on a passed ball by Chelsea Randle.

Things didn’t look good for the Lady Blazers, but the offense got things going in the bottom of the fourth and fought back for three runs to get back into the game. Jessica Eggold reached on an error by Brittany Dowdle which was followed by a single from Heather Pace. Mallory Meadows then stepped to the plate and launched her 12^th home run of the season over the center field fence to cut the Lady Ram lead in half to 6-3.

In the bottom of the sixth, Belhaven made their final push and jumped in front of Mobile with six runs. Meadows drew a leadoff walk and moved to second on a single by Ansley. An illegal pitch put Meadows on third and Ansley on second setting up a sacrifice fly by Britanee Pace for run number one.

The Lady Blazers then loaded the bases with Britney Webb coming to the plate. Webb delivered a run scoring single to right field plating Steichen to make the score 6-5. Jessica Eggold induced a bases loaded walk to bring in the tying run knotting the score at 6-6. At that point, Mobile brought in Mindy Scott to relieve Leslie Pickette and stop the bleeding. However, an error by Phillips on a ground ball by Heather Pace scored a run and allowed the inning to continue granting Belhaven a 7-6 lead. Meadows added a pair of insurance runs with a bases loaded single which pushed across Webb and Eggold making the score 9-6 Belhaven.

Meadows came out to pitch the seventh and closed the door despite a couple of errors by the Lady Blazer defense. Meadows ended up pitching 5.2 innings and was charged with five of the six Mobile runs on nine hits and three strikeouts but earned the win to go to 5-1 on the season. Ashley Mottola came in briefly in the middle of the game and was charged with one unearned run. Pickette suffered her first loss of the season in 5.2 innings of work. She gave up all nine runs on six hits, only five of which were earned, with four walks, and four strikeouts and falls to 17-1.

Meadows had 5 RBI’s and two hits to lead the Belhaven offense while Webb chipped in with a pair of hits and an RBI. Eggold and Britanee Pace also contributed an RBI each in the game one victory. Ackerman finished the first game for the Lady Rams with two hits and 2 RBI’s.

Game Two

Belhaven had some late inning magic in the second game of the day as well getting four runs in the bottom of the six to complete another come from behind win. The Lady Blazers trailed 3-1 heading into the last half of the sixth after the Lady Rams put three on the board in the top of the fourth.

Unlike the first game, Belhaven struck first with a run in the bottom of the second inning to take an early 1-0 lead. Meadows got things going with a base hit to left, moved to second on a ground out by Ansley, and advanced to third on a passed ball charged to Joiner. Belhaven pitcher Salina Cervantes helped her own cause by cashing in a run with a single to center plating Meadows from third base.

The Lady Rams battled back with three runs in the fourth to take the 3-1 lead. Ackerman doubled to left and scored on an Ally Scott two run homer to center field. Phillips came to the plate with two outs and plugged the right center field gap for a double and came in on Holli McLeod’s two base hit to left center field.

The Lady Blazers strung together six hits in their four run sixth inning to take the lead away from Mobile. The hit parade began with a single by Webb to center field who eventually came into score on a base hit by Heather Pace after making it to third base on a stolen base and ground out by Eggold. The next at bat by Meadows was the turning point of game two as she connected on her second home run of the day to give Belhaven a 4-3 lead. The two run shot was her 13^th on the season gives her 61 RBI’s on the season.

Ansley followed the home run with a base hit to left center and then Cervantes found some green in right field for another single to get Ansley to second. Relief pitcher Nicole Sweat fired a wild pitch to send Ansley to third and from there Ansley trotted home on a single by Keresa Steichen to make the score 5-3. It would prove to be the game winner because McLeod led the top of the seventh off with a home run for Mobile pulling the Rams to with one at 5-4. However, Cervantes regrouped to get the final three outs preserving the win for Belhaven.

Meadows led the offense again with two hits and two more RBI’s plus she scored two runs in the game as well. Cervantes had a couple of base hits and an RBI with Heather Pace and Steichen each adding a hit and an RBI apiece. Scott and McLeod each had 2 RBI’s for the Lady Rams to lead Mobile’s offense in game two.

Cervantes was the winning pitcher tossing all seven innings surrendering four runs on 11 hits to go to 12-6 on the season. Scott was charged with the loss pitching 5.1 innings giving up five runs on eight hits with one strikeout.

The Lady Blazers return to action on Tuesday afternoon when they host NCAA Division I Grambling University beginning at 3 PM at Freedom Ridge Park.