VALDOSTA, Ga. – Behind five home runs, including three in the sixth inning alone, the No. 9 Valdosta State softball team posted a 9-1, run-rule victory over Mississippi College to sweep the three-game series at Steel's Diamond at Blazer Park.
 
The Blazers (8-1, 6-0 GSC) hit .400 for the game with nine runs on ten hits as freshman Aniston Gano belted the first two home runs of her career, going 3 for 3 with four RBI and two runs scored.  Fellow freshman Morgan Hill went deep for her third home run of the season, while junior Nicole Pennington tallied her third round-tripper of the series and her team-leading fourth of the year and sophomore Kiley Robb also went deep for the third time this season.
 
For the series, VSU hit nine home runs in the three games by five different players, while MC hit two round-trippers.  Gano finished the series 4 of 7 with three runs scored, two home runs and six RBI.  Pennington went 3 of 6 with five runs scored, three home runs and three RBI.  The Blazers were very efficient as a team, recording 21 hits while scoring 20 runs for the weekend and drove in 19.  The team had ten extra-base hits.
 
Reigning Gulf South Conference Pitcher of the Week, sophomore Samantha Richards, went six innings, improving to 5-1 on the year as she allowed three hits, one earned run, walked none and fanned six in the victory Sunday.  She went 2-0 for the weekend in three appearances with two starts. She had one save and two complete games in 14.2 innings of work for a smashing 0.48 ERA.  Richards allowed five hits, two runs – one earned, walked one and fanned 17 as MC hit just .104 against her.   The Blazer staff held MC to a .123 average for the weekend, allowing eight hits, seven runs – five earned, walked six and fanned 19. 
 
With two out in the bottom of the first, a walk to senior Logan Hill and Robb doubled to left center, putting to in scoring position.  Gano came up with her first collegiate home run, a three-run shot to dead center on a 2-2 count, for a 3-0 lead.  It was the tenth round-tripper of the season for the Blazers and fifth of the series against Mississippi College.
 
After fouling off a number of pitches to begin the top of the second, MC's Brooke Fagan went deep to left field on a 1-2 count for a 3-1 score.  It was just the third home run allowed by the Blazers this season.  VSU starter, sophomore Samantha Richards, came back with two strikeouts following an infield single and got her third K of the frame to end the threat.
 
Richards began the top of the third with her fourth-straight strikeout and junior Baylee Everson made a great diving catch in shallow left field for the second out.  A foul out to first ended the inning with VSU leading 3-1.
 
The Blazers used more standout plays on defense as they turned the 463 double play to end the top of the fourth for the first double play of the season.    In the bottom of the inning, a hit batsmen and a walk put two on with one out as Choctaw pitcher Avery Barnett relieved Sanders.  A ground out to second moved the runners to second and third with two away.  A walk to junior Nicole Pennington followed, as she returned to the game after fouling a ball off the ground and her chin earlier in the contest.  Senior Logan Hill lined a ball right at the left fielder for the third out of the inning as VSU left the bags full.
 
With one out in the bottom of the fifth, Gano went deep for the second time in the game for a solo home run and a 4-1 lead.  To that point, Gano accounted for all four runs for the Blazers.  A leadoff single from Everson in the sixth and then a two run shot for freshman Morgan Hill put VSU up 6-1, for the third home run of the game for the Blazers.  Not to be outdone, the next batter, on a 3-1 count, Pennington went yard for the fourth home run of the game and back-to-back jacks by the Blazers chasing Barnett from the game as Sanders returned.   Following a walk to L. Hill, sophomore Kiley Robb blasted her third home run of the season and the third round-tripper of the inning, ending the game at 9-1 with a run-rule victory.
 
Mississippi College (3-8, 2-4 GSC) finished with one run on three hits and two errors.  Fagan led the team, going 2 for 2 with the home run.  Sanders took the loss (2-6), pitching a total of 3.1 innings in two stints in the game, allowing five hits, five earned runs, walked three and fanned two. Barnett went 1.2 innings, allowing five hits, four earned runs and walked one.
 
The Blazers return to the road in a series at Montevallo Mar. 6-7.  Following that series, VSU returns home for a ten-game home stand, beginning Mar. 13-14 with Union University at Steel's Diamond at Blazer Park.