ALBANY —
The Valdosta State offense exploded for 25 runs on 27 hits, while the pitching staff threw a pair of no-hitters as the Blazers defeated Albany State 16-0 and 9-0 in non-conference softball action at the ASU Softball Field Tuesday afternoon.
With the two wins, Valdosta State improved to 11-1 on the season.
The Blazers scored early and often in the first game.
Courtney Albritton opened the game with an inside-the-park home run. Then VSU added seven more runs in the second. Hannah Strickland and Morgan Johnson delivered the big hits in the second inning. Strickland drove in two runs with a double, while Johnson hit a bases loaded double.
Valdosta State pushed its advantage to 13-0 in the third inning. Albritton and Karson King had run-scoring singles, while Fran Johnson hit a two-run double and Morgan Johnson added a sacrifice fly. Albritton drove in another run with a double, and Morgan Johnson added two more runs to the Blazers’ total with a two-run double in the fourth.
Albany State's only base runners came in the third inning on a hit by pitch and an error, but a sacrifice bunt, a strikeout and a ground out ended the threat.
Valdosta State pitcher Kenzi Reed improved to 3-0 on the season. She allowed no hits and struck out four batters in her five innings of work.
The Golden Rams got runners on base earlier in game 2, but still had no success. A hit by pitch and a sacrifice bunt went for naught in the first inning, while a base on balls in the second was erased on a double play. ASU also got runners on in the third and fifth innings via walks, but neither runner advanced to second base.
Meanwhile, the VSU offense picked up where it left off in game 1. The Blazers scored two runs in the first on a King base hit and a Fran Johnson sacrifice fly.
Valdosta State added six unearned runs in the second, as it took advantage of a two-out error. The first run of the inning scored on the error, while Sarah Vaughn added a three-run triple and Kiley Rusen a two-run single.
The final Blazer run of the game came in the fourth, when Ashley Steinhilber doubled home Vaughn.
VSU’s Brianna Hancock improved to 4-0. She allowed no hits and struck out seven in five innings.
Steinhilber was a perfect 5 for 5 with four runs scored on the day. Vaughn, Altman and Albritton, who scored five times and drove in three runs, all had four hits.
Blazers Blog
Blazers rout Albany State, 16-0 and 9-0
Reed, Hancock pitch no-hitters for VSU in a doubleheader sweep
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Albritton, Johnson earn All-America honors
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Sending the Blazers off
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