Box Score Game 1    Box Score Game 2
Cleveland, MS-The Belhaven softball team traveled to NCAA Division II Delta State University on Wednesday night and came away with a doubleheader split with the Statesman. The Blazers lost 6-5 in game one, but pounded out 18 hits in game two in route to a 10-4 victory.

Game One
Belhaven (11-1) took the early lead in game one with a run in the top of the first inning. Christina Jaques got the offense going with a base hit to center and advanced into scoring position by stealing second base. Tiffany Ansley then shot a single to left field plating Jaques to give the Blazers a 1-0 advantage.

Belhaven had the edge until the bottom of the fifth when Delta State (9-3) knotted the game at 1-1 on a home run to left center field by Emily Hearn. The Statesman kept Belhaven off the board in the top of the sixth and took a 2-1 lead in the bottom of the inning on a Courtney Clark RBI single. However, the Blazers deadlocked the score with a run of their own in the top of the seventh on a bases loaded walk to Jessica Eggold.

Belhaven starting pitcher Sarah Burns came out in the bottom of the seventh and shutdown Delta State sending the contest into extra innings. The Blazers jumped back ahead on a RBI base hit by Ansley in the top of the eighth, but Crista Richard tied the game for Delta State in the bottom of the eighth scoring on a Burns wild pitch to keep the Statesman alive.

Belhaven appeared to put themselves in a good position to win the game in the top of the ninth scoring two runs to make the score 5-3. Katie Sanders drove in the first run on a sacrifice fly and a single by Britney Webb chased home Lizzy Hess who had reached on a throwing error. Unfortunately, Delta State battled back for three runs in the bottom of the ninth to win the game 6-5. Richard drove in the first run on an infield single and Brittany Eikner produced the game winning hit with a two run single to center field.

Burns started in the circle for Belhaven and pitched all 8.2 innings allowing six runs on six hits with 12 strikeouts suffering her first loss of the season. Ansley led the offense going 2 for 4 at the plate with two RBI's. Sanders, Webb, and Eggold each posted a run batted in against Delta State in game one of the afternoon.

Edie Oliver earned the win for the Statesman in game one pitching 2.1 innings in relief and allowed three runs on two hits. Eikner had two RBI's to lead the Delta State offense while Hearn collected a team high two hits in game one.

Game Two
The Blazers came out swinging some hot bats in the second game and got to work quickly scoring three times in the top of the first inning. Jaques had an RBI single to center field and Ansley followed with her second home run of the season over the left field fence. The two run shot gave Belhaven an early 3-0 advantage over the Statesman.

Delta State rallied for two runs in the bottom of the second to cut the Blazers edge to 3-2. Jackie Kelly came in on a wild pitch by Rebecca Rousseau and then Paige Silverthorn scored on a throwing error by Rousseau. The score remained 3-2 until the bottom of the fifth when the Statesman even things up at 3-3 on an RBI groundout by Hearn to first base plating Eikner from third.

However, Webb gave the lead back to Belhaven on a run scoring single to left field in the sixth and the Blazers put the game away in the seventh with six runs on seven hits. Heather Pace slammed a two run homer, her second of the season, to open the scoring in the inning. Webb added an RBI single and Eggold capped things off by driving in two runs on a base hit to right field making it a 10-3 Blazer lead. Delta State tacked on a run in their half of the seventh on a home run by Hearn, but it wasn't enough as the Blazers held on for the win in game two of the doubleheader.

Burns got the win in relief for Belhaven pitching the final 2.2 innings allowing one run on two hits. Burns is now 5-1 on the season in the circle for the Blazers. Webb had four hits in five at bats with two RBI's to pace Belhaven at the plate in game two. Eggold recorded three hits and had two RBI's while Ansley and Pace chipped in with two hits and two runs batted in apiece. Rachel Wright also had a solid game at the dish going 3 for 4 with two runs scored. On the day, Webb picked up three more stolen bases and has 21 steals already in 2010.

Belhaven will be back in action on Saturday when they travel to Dillard University for a Gulf Coast Athletic Conference doubleheader starting at 1:00 PM. The Blazers defeated the Bleu Devils in their first two meetings of the season 21-2 and 15-1 last Friday.