CLEVELAND, Tenn. – The No. 2 Valdosta State softball team defeated Lee twice in day one of the weekend series taking game one 9-7 and game two 14-11. The Blazers move to 12-3 on the year, 5-0 in the Gulf South Conference while the Flames fell to 5-9 on the year and 1-4 in the GSC.  

The Blazers got on the board first in game one in the top of the second inning as junior Taylor Lewis hit a solo home run to give the Blazers a 1-0 lead. Lewis had a stellar evening as she picked up two home runs and tallied three runs.  

VSU tacked on four more runs in the top of the third inning as graduate Ally Clegg hit a single and senior Nikki Pennington was walked. After the walk, sophomore Aniston Gano hit a single to score Clegg and sophomore Katie Proctor hit a double to score Gano. To round out the scoring rout, sophomore Taylor Macera hit an RBI single to score Proctor to give the Blazers a 4-0 cushion.  

Lee's comeback attempt began in the bottom of the fifth inning as the team put up two runs on the board, 4-2, from a two-run home run, but the Blazers responded by putting up four more runs in the top of the seventh inning, 9-2.  

Lee's offense exploded in the bottom of the seventh inning as the team vied for the upset bid putting up four hits on junior pitcher Samantha Richards, resulting in a run. After head coach Thomas Macera made the pitching change to sophomore Mia DeAngelis, the Flames tacked on four more runs, but eventually, DeAngelis got out of the jam striking out the last two batters and allowing VSU to win 9-7.  

Richards (8-1) and DeAngelis combined efforts in the circle and combined for 13 strikeouts and gave up 11 hits, three walks and six earned runs.  

In game two, the Blazers quickly got two runs on the board in the top of the first from sophomore Morgan Hill and junior Abby Sulte scoring off of keen base running 2-0. 

The Flames jumped out to a huge 6-2 lead in the bottom of the first, from miscues by the Blazer defense. .  

The Blazers began to bounce back in the top of the second as junior Hunter Meadows, Hill and Clegg all scored in the inning to bring the score to 6-5 in favor of the Flames.  

VSU tacked another one on the board to tie the game 6-6 in the top of the third inning from Lewis' second homer of the evening.  

The Flames' offense exploded again in the bottom of the third, as Lee put up five runs on DeAngelis, resulting in Macera making the pitching change to Richards in the bottom of the fourth, 11-6 Lee.  

The Blazers didn't lose hope as in the top of the fifth, the Blazers put up three runs to cut the Flames' lead to two, 11-9.  

After Richards and the Blazer defense retired the order in the bottom of the fifth, and again in the bottom of the sixth, the Blazers completed the comeback in the seventh inning as Pennington had a huge homer scoring Clegg and Hill to give the Blazers a 13-11 lead. The Blazers tacked on one more run in the frame and retired the next four Lee batters to give VSU the win, 14-11.  

VSU's entire pitching staff saw action in the game and combined for five strikeouts and gave up five walks, nine hits, and 11 earned runs.  

The Blazers are back in action tomorrow at 1 p.m. to round out the series with the Flames.