TIFTON, Ga. – In an uncharacteristic slow offensive day for the Valdosta State softball team, the Blazers split a Gulf South Conference doubleheader matchup on Friday (1-0, 1-5) at the Abraham Baldwin College softball complex in Tifton, Ga.
 
Mississippi College moved to 25-19 on the year and 14-14 in GSC play, while the No. 1 ranked Blazers slid to 45-5 overall and 24-4 in conference play.
 
Caitlyn Calhoun took full advantage of the one run scored by the Blazers in the fourth, as she allowed just two hits to the Lady Choctaws and struck out 11 batters over seven innings of work.
 
The shutout effort was Calhoun's 17^th of the 2015 campaign and set a new school record for number of shutouts in a single season. The junior leads the nation in the shutout column and improved her season record to 26-3.
 
Game one's only run came in the fourth inning when Jen Phillips shot a hot grounder through the legs of first baseman Brooke Smitherman to drive in Brittany Smith, who pinch ran for Kiley Rusen earlier in the frame after Rusen's leadoff single back through the box.
 
In game two, Huntyre Elling suffered her first loss of the season after allowing three runs in the top half of the third. Shay Mickens, who went 2-for-4 in the second game, slapped a one out infield single that stayed just inside the chalk at third base. She promptly swiped one of her four stolen bases on the day to move into scoring position and came in to score the game's first run after Macey Lee singled to left. A single and a walk loaded the bases, and Mikayla Carruth connected for only her second hit of the 2015 season to plate two additional runs and move the Lady Choctaws out to a 3-0 lead.
 
Fletcher entered the game and concluded the frame with no additional damage, but MC tacked on another insurance run in the fourth when Lee slapped a grounder to Jaime Phillips at short with runners at second and third.
 
Facing a 4-0 deficit in the fifth, Valdosta State cut into the lead when Phillips plated Chelsea Canara with a groundout to short for the Blazers' only RBI of the day.
 
The run was negated two innings later on a long RBI single to left center field by Smitherman that drove in Katharine Lee to push MC's lead back to 5-1.
 
The loss for Elling marked her first of the season and dropped the junior to 14-1 on the year, while Lacie Patterson improved to 6-6. Patterson held the Blazers to just four hits in the second game, and struck out four batters in seven innings pitched.
 
The first game of the day included the highly anticipated return of Courtney Albritton, who singled in her first plate appearance since she was sidelined with a broken arm on March 8^th. The base hit put her one shy of the GSC all-time hit record, which currently belongs to Audrey Williams, who tallied 314 career hits for Alabama-Huntsville from 1998-2001.
 
The Blazers return to Steel's Diamond at Blazer Park tomorrow at 1:00 p.m. for Senior Day, where Head Coach Thomas Macera and the VSU softball program will recognize Albritton and Fran Johnson following the conclusion of their last regular season home game in Valdosta, Ga.