Box Score Game 1        Box Score Game 2
Jackson, MS-The Belhaven softball  team closed out the regular season on Tuesday afternoon at Freedom Ridge Park losing both games of a Gulf Coast Athletic Conference doubleheader to William Carey University. The Lady Blazers lost game one by a final of 6-5 and dropped the second game of the day 6-2. Belhaven finishes the regular season at 34-17 overall and 4-8 in the GCAC while the Lady Crusaders improve to 35-6 overall and 10-2 in conference play. William Carey is the conference champion followed by Mobile who finishes in second at 6-6 while Belhaven and Spring Hill check in with 4-8 records.

                                            

William Carey built a 6-0 lead in the first game only to see the Lady Blazers make a furious comeback in the bottom of the seventh scoring five times in an effort to pull out a come from behind victory.

 

The Lady Crusaders jumped ahead with single runs in the top of the first and second innings off Ashley Mottola. Bree Neidhardt was hit by a pitch, moved to second on a sacrifice bunt, and scored on a two out double by Judy Barber in the first. In the second inning, William Carey got a run on two hits. Jeana Erickson led off with a single and advanced to second on a sac bunt by Larke Nightengale which set up an RBI base hit by Pam Martin.

 

The Lady Crusaders added another run in the top of the fourth with a solo home run by Nightengale to straight away center field. In the sixth, William Carey built a six run cushion with three runs on two hits and an error. With one out, Kelli Blue drew a walk and advanced to third on an error by Britanee Pace which allowed Tan Montgomery to reach base safely. Neidhardt made them pay with a double to left center which brought in Blue and Montgomery to make it 5-0 William Carey. Jill Wedgeworth singled to chase home Neidhardt and just like that it was 6-0 in favor of the Lady Crusaders.

 

To the Lady Blazers credit, they didn't give up and made a valiant effort to get back in the contest in the bottom of the seventh inning. Heather Pace led the inning off with a base hit and then Mallory Meadows launched her team leading 17^th home run of the season to get Belhaven on the board. William Carey then brought in pitcher Brittany Fuller to relieve Kelsey Jo Smith who got the start.

 

Fuller ran the count full to Tiffany Ansley who then belted a home run to left field which was her fourth on the season and at that point Belhaven had pulled within three runs at 6-3. After a ground out by Keresa Steichen, Salina Cervantes worked a walk and came home on Chelsea Randle's first round tripper of the season trimming the deficit to one run at 6-5. Smith then came back in the game to pitch and struck out Kayla Maldonado and Britney Webb to close out the victory for William Carey.

 

Ashley Mottola suffered the loss for Belhaven falling to 12-7 on the season. Mottola was charged with six runs, four of which were earned, on eight hits and five strikeouts. Kelsey Jo Smith got the win improving to 11-3 in 2009 after working 6.2 innings allowing two runs on three hits with eight strikeouts.

 

Meadows and Randle each had a hit and 2 RBI's followed by Ansley who had two hits and an RBI to lead the Belhaven offense. Neidahardt had 2 RBI's while Wedgeworth, Barber, Nightengale, and Martin paced a balanced Lady Crusader offense with an RBI apiece.

 

The Lady Blazers fell behind early again in game two, but could not muster enough offense to get back into the game. Belhaven was outhit 12-4 by William Carey and could never really get any momentum in the game. The Lady Crusaders got out of the gate with two runs on four hits in the top of the first inning off starting pitcher Salina Cervantes. Neidhardt continued to swing a hot bat with a leadoff triple and scored on Wedgeworth's one out double to right center. Barber then dropped a base hit into center field plating Wedgeworth from second base to put William Carey up 2-0.

 

The Lady Crusaders then scored a run in the second and one in the third to extend the advantage to 4-0. In the second, Wedgeworth picked up an RBI on a ground ball to third scoring Blue from third base. Montgomery, who was on second, got in a run down to keep the play alive long enough for Blue to score before being tagged out for the final out of the inning. In the third frame, Erickson blasted a one out home run to center on a 2-2 pitch from Cervantes for the fourth Lady Crusader run.

 

Belhaven got on the board in the bottom of the fourth thanks to a leadoff single by Eggold who eventually came across the plate on a Meadows RBI single to left field. William Carey countered with a run in the fifth with a homer by Barber and then the Lady Blazers got the run back in the bottom of the inning on Cervantes sixth four bagger of the season. Unfortunately, William Carey added on an insurance run in the sixth on a double into the left field corner by pinch hitter Nikki Sanders making the score 6-2. Pitcher Melanie Bush and the Lady Crusader defense made it stand up to secure the victory.

 

Cervantes was charged with the loss and falls to 16-9 on the season. Cervantes was responsible for all six runs, five of which were earned, on 12 hits with two strikeouts. Bush got the win by firing all seven innings allowing two runs on four hits with four strikeouts. Cervantes and Meadows had the RBI's for Belhaven and Wedgeworth along with Barber each had 2 RBI's to lead the William Carey attack.