VALDOSTA, Ga. – The Valdosta State softball team blasted the Lady Bucs of Christian Brothers with an impressive display of both pitching and hitting that led to a doubleheader (9-0, 11-3) Gulf South Conference sweep on Saturday in Valdosta, Ga. at Steel's Diamond at Blazer Park.
The Blazers used the long ball throughout the day to pile on offensively, beginning with a two-run laser off the bat of sophomore
Brandy Morgan in the second inning of game one and followed by another two-run shot just one inning later by
Hayley Cruthers for her first homer of the 2016 season.
Valdosta State added on in the fifth with a
Heather Robinson solo shot to left field, which put VSU up 5-0.
Chelsea Canara reached in the ensuing at-bat on a throwing error by shortstop Amber Johnson, and
Taylor Hartenbach clubbed a double to left field to move Canara to third. Canara scored and Hartenbach moved up on an illegal pitch, and
Lauren Shaw followed two batters later with an RBI grounder to shortstop.
The three-run fifth set the stage for the top of the Blazer order, who delivered a one-two punch in the form of
Jaime Phillips and
Kiley Rusen to finish off the Lady Bucs in game one. Phillips roped a double to right center, before Rusen crushed a walkoff blast to right center field to end the game prematurely.
Caitlyn Calhoun picked up her seventh win of the year to improve to 7-1. The senior GSC Pitcher of the Week hit two batters in the first inning, but struck out the side to escape the early jam and proceeded to strike out 12 batters in just six innings pitched. The shutout dropped Calhoun's ERA to 1.43 on the year and marked her ninth complete game of the season.
In game two, it was more of the same for the Blazer offense, who scored four runs in the first inning on a pair of two-run hits by Hartenbach and Canara, who teamed up to capitalize on four first inning walks and put VSU in front 4-0.
The Rusen show continued in the second inning, when the senior connected for her second home run of the day to lift her season total to a league-leading eight round trippers. The two RBI's on the second inning swing by Rusen helped boost her total on the day to five and lifted her to a GSC best 25 runs batted in.
The early 6-0 lead for Valdosta State increased to 9-0 in the third after Morgan lifted her second home run of the day into a cooler of one of the tailgating fans in the left field parking lot, and Phillips and Rusen each added another RBI later in the frame. The Blazers' big advantage negated three runs scored by the Lady Bucs in the third and fourth innings.
Hunter Elling got the win for VSU to improve her record to 3-2 on the year after the Blazers ended the game in the bottom of the fifth with a run scoring double off the bat of Robinson.
The Blazers improved to 11-3-1 on the year with the sweep, and will go into Sunday's finale with a 3-2 GSC record. Meanwhile, the Lady Bucs fell to 3-10 overall and were left searching for their first GSC victory at 0-5.
The aforementioned series finale is scheduled to begin at 1:00 p.m. on Sunday afternoon at Steel's Diamond at Blazer Park in Valdosta, Ga.
