Blazers’ big hits topple Chargers

Published 11:50 pm Friday, May 4, 2018

The Valdosta State softball team continued its powerful hitting to defeat the No. 17-ranked Alabama-Huntsville Chargers 8-5 and remain undefeated in the Gulf South Conference Tournament in Florence, Ala., on Friday.

For the second straight day, the No. 2 seeded Blazers used the long ball to fuel their success, and Brandy Morgan got the ball rolling in the top half of the opening frame with a towering two-run blast over the left field wall. The 2-0 lead didn’t last long, however, as Kiara Akles returned fire with a three-run homer in the bottom of the first to give No. 3-seeded UAH a 3-2 advantage.

After two scoreless innings both ways, the Blazers reclaimed the lead in the top of the fourth with two more runs. Lacey Crandall started the big inning with her second home run of the tournament over the right-center field wall. Three batters later, Danielle Patterson connected for a double into the left-center field gap, which represented one of her three hits in the game. Jessica Mohl capitalized on the chance with two outs when she slipped a single inside the left field line to put VSU on top 4-3.

One inning later, Logan Hill delivered the biggest blow of the game, a three-run bomb over the deck beyond the left field fence. The homer came after an infield error by Brooke Miller at second base early in the inning, which made all three of Hill’s critical two-out RBIs unearned.

The resilient Charger lineup posted single runs in both the fifth and the sixth innings, but the Blazers gave reliever Kasie Johnson some insurance in the seventh when Heather Robinson scored all the way from second on a caught fly ball in deep right center field off the bat of Crandall.

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Johnson slammed the door in the bottom of the seventh with three straight outs, including a strikeout of Miller for the final out, to seal the win and pick up her second save of the season. Sophomore Kathryn Carter improved to 16-4 after a gutsy effort, in which she pitched around eight hits and worked around a tight strike zone for the victory.

The triumph marked VSU’s first of the season against UAH, who swept the Blazers in regular season play earlier in the year. The Chargers fell to 35-15 with the loss, while Valdosta State improved to 41-11 on the season.

As a result of an altered schedule due to the expectation of inclement weather today, the Blazers are slated to face the winner of West Florida and Mississippi College at 7 p.m. tonight. As one of just two undefeated teams remaining in the tournament (North Alabama is the other), VSU competes tonight for a trip to Sunday afternoon’s winner-take-all championship game.