Blazer softball picks up wins ahead of GSC series

Published 4:26 pm Wednesday, March 14, 2018

The Valdosta State softball team edged out a doubleheader opener over Georgia Southwestern in a 2-1 win, before running away with game two for a 7-3 victory in non-conference softball action Tuesday in Americus.

Brandy Morgan’s red hot streak continued, as the senior started the game off with a bang in the top half of the first by sending a Shannon Gibs offering over the left field wall. Taylor Hartenbach, who reached in the prior at-bat after she was hit by a pitch, represented one of two RBI’s for Morgan, and the Blazers took an early 2-0 lead.

The eventful first inning continued in the bottom half of the frame after Kasie Johnson gave up three hits for one Georgia Southwestern run. The junior settled, however, and with the help of some good defense, she escaped the inning with no more damage and a narrow advantage at 2-1.

From that moment on, the game transformed into a pitching duel, in which neither team scored the rest of the way. Johnson, who picked up another win to improve to 4-2 on the season, went the distance and allowed just three additional hits in the final six frames to compensate for Valdosta State’s quiet offensive performance throughout the final six innings.

VSU woke the bats up in game two, as both Heather Robinson and Hartenbach struck for big runs on a pair of home run blasts in the second and fifth innings, respectively. Robinson’s second-inning round tripper to center gave VSU a 2-0 lead, and Hartenbach followed with a big three run shot to right center. Catcher Lacey Crandall added a two-run single in the seventh, which gave Kathryn Carter more than enough to improve to 6-2 in the circle.

Hartenbach’s homer put her back at the top of the GSC leaderboard in the category and lifted her into third place with 27 RBI’s, just one shy of the tied leaders. Meanwhile, both Robinson and Morgan are now among the top ten in the league in homers this year with four and five, respectively.

Valdosta State returns to action this week on the road for an altered schedule against Auburn-Montgomery in Montgomery, Ala.

The three-game series was initially scheduled to take place over the weekend, but the set was moved to today and Friday in an attempt to avoid a poor weekend forecast.

The Blazers will open up with a single game today at 3 p.m. EST and will close out the series with a Friday doubleheader starting at 1 p.m. EST.