VALDOSTA, Ga. – Brandy Morgan, the reigning Gulf South Conference Freshman of the Week, popped the cork on Sunday afternoon at Steel's Diamond in Valdosta, Ga., as she swung for the first four home runs of her collegiate career to fuel a doubleheader sweep (11-2, 10-2) for Valdosta State over league rival Delta State.
The pair of victories moved the sizzling hot Blazers up to 16-2 overall and 7-1 against GSC opponents. Meanwhile, the Lady Statesmen suffered their third and fourth losses of the season to fall to 9-4 overall and 2-3 in league action.
The Lady Statesmen struck quickly in game one and took an early one run lead when Kaitlin Moore connected on a two-out solo shot in the first inning to give DSU a 1-0 lead.
The advantage was short lived, however. Three batters into the bottom half of the opening inning,
Kiley Rusen delivered an RBI grounder to score
Courtney Albritton, who reached to lead off the frame after she was hit by a pitch.
Fran Johnson promptly tacked on an additional run one at bat later with an RBI single up the middle, and both
Jennifer Phillips and
Heather Robinson added RBI singles of their own to cap off a four-run first.
One inning later,
Jaime Phillips started another huge VSU rally with a screaming leadoff double into the right center field gap, and two batters later, Johnson followed with a single to left for her second RBI of the day. In the next at bat,
Jennifer Phillips smoked a two run round tripper high and far over the left field wall, and Morgan ambushed the Lady Statesmen to give VSU an 8-1 lead in the following at bat when she cranked the first homer of her career.
The onslaught continued in the third, when Jaime and
Jennifer Phillips both reached to set the stage yet again for Morgan, who scattered the fans behind the left center field wall with another home run, this one of the three-run variety. The long ball put an exclamation point on an 11 run outburst by the Blazer offense in game one, and Morgan was responsible for nearly half of those runs with a four-RBI effort.
After allowing the first inning homer,
Caitlyn Calhoun did not allow another hit until the top of the fifth inning, when she allowed one run to score on two hits. Despite the additional run by the Lady Statesmen, Calhoun held DSU at bay and secured the mercy rule victory to improve her season record to 9-1.
Game two proved to be more of the same, as the Blazers piled on early in the contest with a five run spot in the second. The Morgan Show continued in the inning when the freshman blistered a solo shot to left center field and sparked a rally that also included a two-run homer off the bat of
Heather Robinson. The final two runs of the inning came on a two-run single by Johnson, who finished the overall day with four hits, five RBI's, three runs scored, and a pair of stolen bases.
Delta State made things interesting in the third with a two-run long ball off the bat of Taylor Holland that forced
Huntyre Elling to give way to
Maci Fletcher. The sophomore righty took care of business and picked up the win after holding DSU scoreless the rest of the way. Following the victory, Fletcher's record improved to 3-1 overall.
Fletcher received some extra support from the Blazer offense in the fourth, when Morgan crushed a three-run laser to center field that brought in both Johnson and
Jennifer Phillips.
The fourth inning four-bagger finalized a day for Morgan in which she belted four homers, racked up eight RBI's and tallied four runs scored. The power display boosted the freshman into a third place tie for most home runs by a GSC player.
With an 8-2 lead, the Blazers were able to close out the contest with two additional runs in the fifth, both of which came on RBI singles. Albritton scored her third run of the day after Rusen singled through the right side, and Johnson laid down a rare walk-off bunt to score
Jaime Phillips from third and end the game by way of the mercy rule.
The Blazers aim to stay hot this week with a non-conference doubleheader on Tuesday afternoon at 2:00 p.m., as the Florida Southern Mocs come to Valdosta for the two-game set. Follow the action live via live stats, available at www.vstateblazers.com.
