Box Score vs. LU    Box Score vs. WPU    Box Score vs. SCAD
Jackson, MS- The Belhaven softball team went 2-1 in their home opening softball tournament at the Belhaven “Sweet 16 ”on Saturday afternoon. The Blazers started off the day with Lindenwood University defeating LU 6-5. The Blazers then took on William Penn University beating WPU 5-3. The Blazers dropped their final contest to Savannah College of Art and Design 9-6. The Blazers combined for 29 hits over three games and seventeen runs.

Belhaven (3-2) met up with Lindenwood in the first contest of the day. Lindenwood got out of the gate fast first with a homerun by Bailee Wrinkler to give LU a 2-0 lead. The Blazers countered back with two runs of their own in the third as Christina Jaques scored on an RBI ground out to shortstop by Annalee Carr. CeeCee Austin then hit a homerun to tie the score up 2-2.

Belhaven in the bottom of the third inning scored two runs taking a 4-2 lead on a two run homer by Rian O'Bannon giving the Blazers the advantage. The next runs didn't come until the top of the sixth inning by Lindenwood who scored three runs in the inning. Sophia Galati led off with a home run and Emily Johnson then stepped up and hit a two run homerun to give her squad a 5-4 lead as Jessica Long scored. Belhaven then rallied in the seventh inning from a Christina Jaques single batting in pinch runner Jessica Paris. Rian O'Bannon then hit a single to right field driving in Jaques for the win. Sarah Burns pitched all seven innings and received a win for her efforts. Burns allowed nine hits but tallied 12 strike outs in game.

Bailee Winkler and Emily Johnson had two hits and two runs batted in for the Lions followed by Sophie Berman who had two hits and one RBI.

The next opponent for the Blazers was William Penn University. The contest started off slow with neither team allowing a run to be scored until the fifth inning. William Penn University's Ashley Nieto hit a single driving in two runs. Andrea Rensberger scored run number three following a Blazer error. The Blazers got hot in the bottom of the inning scoring five runs. Jaques and Katie Sanders scored runs from a Rian O'Bannon single and then O'Bannon scored a run on a CeeCee Austin single. Rachel Wright then hit a homerun to bring in Jessica Paris.

The game ended with the final score of 5-3 with no more runs being scored in the sixth and seventh innings. Rebbeca Rousseau pitched all seven innings giving up three runs. Rousseau had nine strikeouts and would be counted for the win. O'Bannon and Wright each had two hits and two RBI's to lead the Blazers at the plate in game two.

Nieto had the only two runs batted in for the Statesman on one hit. Rensberger led the hit parade with two hits in two at bats. Pitcher Jennifer Whitehead took the loss in the circle for William Penn pitching six innings with five runs and eight hits surrendered in the game.

Belhaven's last game was with Savannah College of Art and Design. The Blazers suffered a 9-6 loss as in the first inning both teams scored two runs apiece. SCAD scored their runs on a homerun by Courtney Mienkina who drove in Jackie Rooney. The Blazers run was unearned by O'Bannon on a throwing error from the third basemen Courtney Mienkina. Austin then hit a single to bring in Carr for the Blazers second run tying the score at 2-2.

Belhaven took a 3-2 lead in the third when Bannon scored on a groundout to the pitcher by Austin. In the fourth inning SACD tied the score at 3-3 on Mienkina's homerun which was her second of the contest. The Blazers clocked in two more scores in the bottom of the fifth inning as Carr hit a double to bring in Lizzy Hess to make the score 4-3. Austin then hit a double to plate Carr for another score giving the Blazers a 5-3 edge. SACD was able to get one run-in in the sixth inning from a Jessaca Spears homerun.

SACD in the top of the seventh inning was able to hammer in five runs in the inning. Amanda Kressler and Brittany Gonzales scored off a double by Nirana Singh. Jessaca Spears then hit a homerun to bring in Jackie Rooney and Nirana Singh to giving SCAD a 9-5 advantage. The Blazers tried to rally back but were too far in a hole only scoring one run in the bottom of the seventh as Jaques was sent home on a single off the bat of Austin. Burns suffered the loss in the circle pitching 7.0 innings allowing nine runs and seven hits. Burns tallied nine strike outs in the contest and is now 1-2 on the season.

Spears led the Bee's with two hits and four runs batted in. Mienkina added three RBI's on two hits and Singh followed with a hit and two runs batted in. Sam White picked up the win in the circle for the Bee's as she worked 2.1 innings in relief and gave up just one run on three hits. 

The Blazers will travel Framer's Branch, Texas to play in the St. Gregory's Tournament next weekend. On Friday the Blazers will take on Saint Gregory University (Okla.) at 1:30p.m. Next the Blazers will battle University of Houston-Victoria (TX) at 4:00p.m. On Saturday the Blazers will face Oklahoma City University at 10a.m and Oklahoma Christian at 12p.m.