VALDOSTA, Ga.- The No. 10 Valdosta State softball team opened its 2023 home slate at Steel's Diamond at Blazer Park on Saturday afternoon as it split a doubleheader with Mississippi College. In the first pair of games in a Gulf South Conference opening three game series, The Blazers blanked the Choctaws in the opener, 8-0, while Mississippi College took the second game, 7-4.
Game 1: #10 Valdosta State 8, Mississippi College 0 (6 Innings)
In the first game of the afternoon, the Blazers took an early lead in the second inning as senior Taylor Lewis struck first for VSU with a towering solo home run to left field. From there, freshman Jayme Prandine hit a three-bagger to set up a ground out by junior Morgan Hill that scored Prandine to put the Blazers up 2-0.
VSU tacked on another run in the third inning behind three singles with Lewis hitting the third to send freshman Jasmine Stewart to the plate, putting the Blazers up 3-0. In the fourth, Valdosta State added another run behind a pair of walks and a single by junior Taylor Macera and freshman Saylor McNearney stole home for a 4-0 lead.
In what would be the final inning of the first game, the Blazers began the inning behind a single from McNearney to put a Blazer on base early in the frame. From there, VSU hit back-to-back jacks from sophomore Abby Sulte and junior Katie Proctor to give Valdosta State a 7-0 lead. Two outs later, junior Kinzie Nelson snagged a home run for an 8-0, walk-off victory.
Senior pitcher Samantha Richards recorded her second win of the season (2-1) in six innings, fanning six and allowing only two hits. Sulte recorded two hits on four at bats, scoring a run on a two-run homer and two RBI to earn Guardian Bank Player of the Game honors.
Game 2: Mississippi College 7, # 10 Valdosta State 4
The second game started out slow with no scoring by either team until the bottom of the third inning. The Blazers struck first behind two singles and a bunt, setting up a sacrifice fly to send Prandine home to give VSU the early 1-0 edge.
The Choctaws answered right back in the top of the fourth with a two-run homer to take their first lead of the afternoon, 2-1. In the bottom of the fourth, the Blazers responded with two runs of their own in the form of back-to-back home runs, courtesy of Nelson and Lewis. The back to back jacks were the second of the afternoon and the second home runs of the day for both Nelson and Lewis, who scored solo shots in the game.
The fifth inning proved eventful for the Choctaws, as they scored three runs off of a three-run shot to put Mississippi College up 5-3. The Choctaws added two more runs in the sixth behind a field error and a single with bases loaded to give MCU the 7-3 lead, heading into the final inning of the afternoon.
In the bottom of the seventh. Hill hit a two-out blast to left center to cut the deficit to 7-4, but the Blazer came up on the short end, 7-4.
Four Blazer pitchers combined for seven runs on 11 hits with five errors, two walks and two strikeouts while junior pitcher Mia DeAngelis was credited with the loss. Hill recorded three hits on four trips to the plate, scoring one home run and one RBI to earn Guardian Bank Player of the Game honors.
The Blazers will return on Sunday afternoon at 1 p.m., for the decisive third game against Mississippi College. Fans can access links to live stats, audio/video streaming and more for the game tomorrow on vstateblazers.com on the softball schedule page.
