Lady Hawks win doubleheader vs. West Fla.

From Staff Reports

The Shorter softball won the first two games of a three-game series with West Florida Saturday afternoon, winning the opener, 8-0, and the finale, 5-3.

Shorter improved to 26-10 on the year and 16-9 in Gulf South Conference play, while the Argos fell to 15-27 overall and 7-18 in the GSC.

The Lady Hawks jumped out to an early lead in game one; scoring four times as Kendall Johnson brought in Niki Cook on an RBI single, Maggie Meacham scored on an error by the catcher, and Ericka Bynum delivered a twoRBI single to plate Johnson and Kameron Carter. Cook came in, once again, on an RBI hit from Johnson in the second to make it a 5-0 game. In the fourth, Meacham homered, plating Janell Echols to bring Shorter’s advantage to 7-0, and Kelsey Holloway notched a sacrifice fly in the fifth to bring in Bynum and give the Lady Hawks the win, 8-0.

Maddie Bray earned the win, pitching a complete game gem; allowing just two hits through five innings with 10 strikeouts.

Shorter scored first in game two as Johnson again brought in Cook on an RBI single to make it a 1-0 game. The Argos answered with a run in the third, and took the lead 3-1 with two in the fifth. But, the Lady Hawks rallied to earn the win in the bottom of the inning; scoring four times. Johnson started things off with a two-RBI single, followed by an RBI single from Paige Rowland, and an RBI single from Carter for the 5-3 final score.

Amanda Blanchard earned the win; pitching five innings, and allowing three runs — two earned — on eight hits with three strikeouts. Kalei Kimbrell recorded the save; pitching two innings in relief, allowing no runs on no hits with two strikeouts.

Cook and Johnson each finished the day with four hits — two in each game; while Meacham and Bynum added three.