VSU drops regular-season finale vs. West Florida

Published 4:14 pm Monday, April 30, 2018

The Valdosta State softball team saw its regular-season schedule come to an end on a down note in Pensacola, Fla., as West Florida took the rubber match with a 6-2 victory in Gulf South Conference action Sunday afternoon.

The Argonauts forced the Blazers to use three pitchers in the series finale and used eight hits to capitalize on three Blazer errors for their six run total. UWF tallied at least one run in four of its six trips to the plate.

Valdosta State reached safely eight times in the game with four hits, three walks and a UWF error, but starter Sarah Maloney scattered VSU’s opportunities. Furthermore, UWF came up with a number of solid defensive plays to negate several hard hit balls by the VSU lineup. Both of the Blazers’ runs in the game came on one swing of the bat, when Brandy Morgan clubbed her 12th homer of the season over the center field wall to tie the game at 2-2 in the third.

West Florida promptly reclaimed the lead in the bottom of the same inning, and held on to improve to 29-18 overall and finish the regular season with an 18-13 GSC schedule. Meanwhile, Valdosta State enters postseason play at 39-11 overall and 23-9 against league opponents.

With the help of a North Alabama win against Alabama-Huntsville on Sunday, the Blazers finished the regular season as the league’s No. 2 ranked team and faces No. 7 Delta State in the opening round of the GSC Tournament. The first round matchup will take place at 1:30 p.m. Thursday at the host site of top-ranked North Alabama in Florence.