VALDOSTA, Ga. – The Valdosta State Blazers cruised to an easy sweep (15-0, 8-0) of the West Georgia Wolves in Gulf South Conference softball action on Friday night at Steel's Diamond at Blazer Park.
 
The victory allowed the Blazers to retain a fairly comfortable lead in the conference, as they improved to 41-4 on the year and 22-3 against league opponents. The Wolves, meanwhile, saw their overall record fall to 14-25, and their conference record dropped to 7-18.
 
Valdosta State jumped on the Wolves at the outset of game one and scored five runs in the first inning on three hits. Kiley Rusen started the scoring off with an RBI grounder that plated Jaime Phillips, who walked to lead off the game and moved up on a ground ball and a wild pitch. With a 1-0 lead, the Blazers added on later in the frame when Chelsea Canara walked with the bases loaded, and Kelly Gordon followed with a bases loaded, infield single that deflected off of Randi Phillips at shortstop and scored both Jennifer Phillips and Brandy Morgan. VSU's final run of the frame came on another bases loaded walk to Jaime Phillips that put the red and black on top 5-0.
 
Catcher Kelly Gordon, who proved to be the star of the evening with a 3-for-4 effort and seven RBI's over the course of the doubleheader, highlighted a seven-run second for the Blazers with her first career grand slam. The long ball marked Gordon's second of the season and followed her first career home run that she hit less than one week ago against the Chargers at Alabama-Huntsville on Sunday.
 
VSU sealed game one with another big inning in the third, in which the Blazers sent eight batters to the plate and belted three hits for three runs. The big blow of the half inning came from Fran Johnson, who drove in two with a bases-loaded single to left. Halie Imler picked up the other RBI earlier in the inning when she singled in Morgan, who led off the frame with a walk.
 
Caitlyn Calhoun earned the game one win and pushed her season strikeout total up to 205 after retiring seven batters by way of the strikeout. She allowed just one hit in the game and bumped her season record to 23-3. Katie Turner took the loss for the Wolves and saw her record fall to 5-6.
 
Game two was more of the same for Head Coach Thomas Macera's squad, as the Blazers scored seven runs in the first two innings to take a comfortable lead. One additional run in the fourth allowed VSU to stretch their lead to 8-0 and end the contest early by way of the mercy rule.
 
Five of VSU's eight runs in the game came in the second inning. Gordon got the ball rolling with an RBI single to center, and a combination of wild pitches and stolen bases kept things rolling to set the stage for Rusen, who delivered her third RBI of the game with a sacrifice fly to shallow center field.

Another sacrifice fly by Heather Robinson in the fourth capped off the 23-run offensive effort on the day for Valdosta State, and helped Huntyre Elling pick up the victory in the circle and improve to a perfect 13-0 on the year.
 
Rusen finished the day with six RBI's and a home run in each of the two games, while Fran Johnson swiped four bases on the day to improve to a perfect 29-of-29 in the stolen base category this season.
 
The Blazers return to action on Saturday for the series finale, which is scheduled to start at 12:00 noon at Steel's Diamond at Blazer Park.