ROME, Ga. –The Valdosta State suffered a pair of Gulf South Conference losses (10-0, 6-5) in a Saturday doubleheader on the road against the Shorter Hawks in Rome, Ga.
 
Valdosta State fell to 20-6 on the year overall and dropped their first two GSC games of the season to fall to 9-2 in league action after the day's results. Meanwhile, the Hawks improved to 19-8 overall and 8-3 against conference opponents.
 
In game one, the Hawks used three hits and a Blazer error in the first to score three runs, then matched the effort in the bottom of the second with three additional runs on four hits.
 
Valdosta State placed runners in scoring position in both the first and the fifth inning, but Shorter starter Payton Lippert let her defense do the work by forcing eight groundouts in the game and allowing the Blazers to swing for just two hits over the course of the abbreviated contest.
 
Lippert picked up her seventh win of the year after the game one victory to improve to 7-3, while Kathryn Carter fell for the first time to move to 9-1 overall.
 
In the nightcap, Shorter put another three spot on freshman Avery Lamb in the first inning, before the Blazer bats came to life in the top of the second. Lacey Crandall and Tana McDaniel teamed up for back-to-back doubles to put VSU on the board, and the Blazers carried that momentum into the top of the third for three runs on four hits to go up 4-3.
 
Shorter tied the contest up in the bottom half of the same inning on an RBI single by Hannah Draper, but McDaniel fired right back in the fourth to give VSU a 5-4 advantage with a leadoff homer to left center.
 
Kalei Clark came on in relief after the home run, and proceeded to quiet Valdosta State's offense the rest of the way, allowing just two hits over four innings of work.
 
Clark scored the win for the Hawks to improve to 6-1 on the year, after Shorter scratched out one run in both the fifth and sixth innings. The deciding run came in the bottom of the sixth, when Kameron Carter sacrificed Ericka Bynum into scoring position by way of a bunt, before Dani Lukas delivered an RBI single through the right side to put the Hawks on top, 6-5.
 
Haley Cruthers, Brandy Morgan, Taylor Hartenbach, and McDaniel swung for two hits each on the day to account for eight of VSU's 11 base hits. Jessica Mohl, Chelsea Canara, and Crandall all hit safely on the day, but were held to just one hit each.
 
Valdosta State will aim to salvage the weekend series on Sunday in the 1:00 p.m. series finale.