Henderson hits first career homer; Barnes earns weekly award
— West Georgia softball dropped both games of Saturday’s doubleheader on the road, falling by 11-3 and 7-6 finals to Lee at Butler Field in Cleveland, Tennessee.
The Wolves and Flames played just six innings in game one but made up for it in a nine inning thriller in game two that featured a three-run comeback by each team.
UWG falls to 24-25 on the season and 9-19 and 9-21 in GSC play.
Game One: What began as a see-saw battle, turned south in the sixth inning in game two of the series, and the opener of Saturday’s doubleheader.
Madison Chambers gave West Georgia a lead for a short time in the first, doubling home Ashley Ellison, but the Flames struck for two runs on two hits to jump right back on top in their half of the opening inning.
After a scoreless second, Alley Taylor gave UWG the lead back in the third, slugging her fourth home run of the season, scoring two as she drove in Sydney Smith. But just like in the first inning, the Flames responded with two of their own, jumping back up in front 4-3.
Lee added seven runs to break the game open, and end it in the sixth.
West Georgia had just five hits in the contest, with the biggest being Taylor’s two-run homer. Ashley Ellison, Madison Chambers, former Calhoun High standout Cassie Henderson, and Sydney Smith each recorded a hit in the loss.
Game Two: The series finale started uneventfully until the second inning when Lee led off with Taylor Moran getting hit by a pitch and then moving to third on a double. West Georgia then turned an incredible triple-play to get out of the jam.
Lee then used four hits and a UWG error to get on the board in third, taking a 3-0 lead.
Coming into the sixth inning, UWG had just three hits in the game, but they doubled their total with three in the frame. With two outs, Sydney Smith got on via the walk, and then Peyton Stallworth singled to set up the big hit from Cassie Henderson. The freshmen promptly slugged her first career home run to tie things up at 3-3.
Neither team scored in the sixth, sending the game into extra innings. In the eighth, Sydney Smith led off with a single and moved to second on a Peyton Stallworth sac bunt. After a strikeout and backto-back walks, Alley Taylor singled and scored three runs thanks in part to a Lee error.
Lee then brought the tying run to the plate, and Raya Moncus had the Flames down their final strike, but Stevie Baird tied it up at 6-6 with a home run to right field.
In the ninth, Lee walked it off with a Taylor Moran single to sweep the series. Alley Taylor led UWG offensively with a 3-for-5 performance with a pair of RBI. Lexie Stohr and Henderson also had multi-hit games going 2-for-5, with Henderson driving in three runs on the home run.
In other recent college softball news:
— Samford freshman shortstop and former Calhoun High standout Ashlyn Barnes was named the Southern Conference’s Player of the Week when the league released its weekly softball awards Monday afternoon.
In four games last week, Barnes hit an impressive .538 (7-for-13) with a triple and a team-high four RBI. She was successful on all four of her stolen base attempts, and she committed no errors in 16 chances for the week.
Barnes went 3-for-4 with a triple and two RBI in the Bulldogs’ 8-4 win over Austin Peay Wednesday. She also had two hits and an RBI in game one of Saturday’s doubleheader at Mercer, and she had a hit and an RBI in game two of the twin bill. Barnes tallied at least one hit in each of the Bulldogs’ four games last week, and she drove in at least one run in three of the four games.
This marks the fourth time this season a Samford player has earned the honor. Senior Shelby Maze previously earned the award three times.
Barnes and the Bulldogs will travel to Greenville, S.C., to play a three-game SoCon series at Furman this weekend.
– The Jacksonville State softball team dropped a pair of Ohio Valley Conference games at Southern Illinois-Edwardsville on Saturday.
The Gamecocks (23-19, 11-3 OVC) fell on a walk-off homer by the Cougars (19-14, 9-3 OVC) in the first game of the day before falling 3-1 in the nightcap. With the losses, JSU falls into second place in the league standings behind Eastern Kentucky.
The opening game saw SIUE score a run in the first but then watched the Gamecocks jump on the Cougars with a big second inning. JSU plated four runs in the frame, the first two coming on Hayley Sims’ two-run homer to right field.
The inning continued with former Gordon Central standout Ryann Luna’s double into the right centerfield gap. That would set up a squeeze bunt from Emily Woodruff that made it a 3-1 game and then an Anna Chisolm triple that put the 4-1 advantage on the board.
SIUE got one back in the home half of the second before both teams exchanged zeroes for the next two innings. The Cougars tied the game in the fifth with a pair of runs before claiming the win on Reagan Curtis’ game winner to center in the seventh.
Faith Sims started the game for JSU and limited SIUE to three runs on five hits in four innings in the circle. Alexus Jimmerson (6-4) suffered the loss after allowing two runs on just three hits in two innings of relief work.
Corrina Rivas started the game for SIUE and allowed four runs on seven hits in six innings of work before making way for Emily Ingles. Ingles earned the win in relief after throwing a scoreless seventh, setting up two wins on the day for her.
Sims and Luna each had two hits in the game to lead JSU.