MONTGOMERY, Ala.  – The No. 25 Valdosta State softball team put up five runs in the top of the sixth inning to battle back from a 5-3 deficit for an 8-6 win Sunday afternoon in the rubber-match at Auburn Montgomery. 
 
The Blazers (10-4, 5-1 GSC) tallied eight runs on eight hits and was led by three home runs from three different Blazers in the win.  The Blazers used a five-run sixth inning on blasts from junior Joanna Muldoon and senior Jordenne Gaten accounting for all five runs of the frame.
 
The Warhawks (8-4, 3-3 GSC) used a long ball in the bottom of the seventh, but sophomore Samantha Richards was able to close the door for her second save of the season.  AUM scored six runs on 12 hits and one error in the game.
 
Gaten went 1 of 3 with a run scored and three RBI on the home run for her fifth round-tripper of the season.  Muldoon, who entered the game in the sixth as a pinch-hitter, had her first home run as a Blazer.  Senior Lacey Crandall had a team-high two hits and scored a run in the game.
 
VSU junior Morgan Cushman (3-1) took the win in relief of junior starter Shayne O'Connell.  Cushman went 2.2 innings, allowing four hits, two earned runs and walked one.  O'Connell went four innings, allowing seven hits, four earned runs and walked four.  Richards pitched the final out of the game, allowing one hit. 
 
AUM's Molly Cobb went 3 for 3 in the game with two runs scored and four RBI on a pair of home runs, including a two-run shot in the bottom of the seventh to pull the Wahawks within 8-6.  Olivia Aycock was 2 for 4 with two runs scored.  Starter Alanna Goble, who had a strong outing the 5-3 opening win Saturday, saw four innings on Sunday, allowing four hits, three runs – two earned, walked one and fanned four.  Chanel Newcomer (2-3) took the loss in two innings of relief, allowing four hits, five earned runs, walked two and struck out three.
 
The Blazers return home for a doubleheader on Tuesday at 4 p .m. versus Albany State at Steel's Diamond at Blazer Park.  They then will be off until Mar. 3, where they begin a stretch of nine-straight home games in eight days. 
 
AUM opened the scoring in the bottom of the first inning on a Cobb sacrifice fly and a ground out RBI for a 2-0 lead.  VSU senior Haley Garrett began the top of the third with a double down the right field line and scored on a throwing error for a 2-1 deficit.
 
Cobb then hit her first round-tripper in the third with two out, but Blazer senior Logan Hill answered in the top of the fourth with her team-leading seventh round-tripper of the season and a sacrifice fly from Garrett tied the game at three.
 
The Warhawks plated run in the bottom of the fourth for a 4-3 lead before the Blazers exploded for five runs in the sixth.