Game 1 Box    Game 2 Box
HATTIESBURG, Miss. – An exhilarating rally at the end of game two helped the Blazers split with William Carey on Tuesday afternoon. The Crusaders won game one 4-3 on a quirky play and held a late lead over Belhaven in game two before giving up eight runs in the final frames, as the Blazers prevailed 8-3 in eight innings.
 
Both teams struggled to find consistent offense in the first of a doubleheader, scattering a few hits over three innings of play.
 
Belhaven (26-8) struck first in the top of the fourth with two runs. Jordan Cole lined a single to left field before being escorted to third base on a double by Denee' Crawford. The extra-base hit was Crawford's 11^th double of the season. Dominique Corona walked to load the bases with no outs in the inning.
 
Courtney Fairley grounded into a fielder's choice, which forced Cole out at home, but the Blazers kept the bases juiced with Katie Adair stepping to the plate. Adair singled to centerfield, easily scoring Crawford and Corona to make it a 2-0 game in Belhaven's favor.
 
William Carey (31-14) got one run back in the bottom half of the fourth on a two-out double by Kayleigh Anspach off of Belhaven' starter Jessica Paris. Anspach drove in Hannah Cook-Kelley, who had walked to start the inning.
 
The Blazers put another run on the board in the fifth on a RBI-double by Cole to plate pinch runner Emily Tucker, giving the Blazers a 3-1 lead.
 
The Crusaders put runners on second and third with two outs in the bottom of the fifth inning when Jasmine Shelby hit a single through the gap in the infield to plate two runs. Shelby's two-out knock tied the game at three, setting up a dramatic finish between the two schools.
 
Belhaven was held scoreless in the sixth inning, but the Crusaders played small ball to take their first lead of the game in the bottom half. Kayla Byrd pinch ran for Janessa Dedeaux after a walk by the Crusaders' first baseman. Byrd was advanced to third on a sacrifice bunt and a ground out to Cole.
 
With two outs in the inning, Shelby Watson put a pitch just outside of the grasp of Crawford which allowed Byrd to score the go-ahead run from third.
 
Belhaven was unable to score in the top of the seventh to give the Crusaders a 4-3 win in game one. Paris took the loss for the Blazers, falling to 12-2 on the season.
 
The Blazers looked to even the series in the second contest, but struggled to find a hot bat through six innings of play. Adair, the starter for the Blazers, kept Belhaven in the game, but had allowed three runs through six innings pitched.
 
Down to their last three outs Belhaven put together a rally for the ages.
Adair started the inning with a pop out to short. Brittni Trawick pinch hit for Haley Yasses and delivered a single to get the hits started. Taylor Bryan followed up Trawick's hit with a single of her own, as did pinch-hitter Katie Sanders to load the bases.
 
Watson earned a walk to score the first Belhaven run of the game, still with only one out in the inning. Cole followed up with a fielder's choice that scored Bryan from third, but pinch-runner Lizzy Hess was thrown out at third.
 
Now with two outs and down to their final at-bat, Crawford was the last hope for the Blazers. She laced a double to deep centerfield, easily scoring Watson, but Cole was thrown out at the plate trying to add another run.
 
However, the Blazers had rallied from the depths to tie the game at three runs apiece.
 
Adair shut down William Carey in 1-2-3 fashion to send the game to extra innings. There the Blazers struck again for a huge five run surge, capped off by home run by Watson to make it 8-3.
 
The Belhaven starter, Adair, completed another strong inning in the eight to finish off the comeback by the Blazers. She improved to 9-3 on the season with the win. Adair also led the Blazers with four RBI's on the afternoon.
 
Belhaven is back on the road this weekend with doubleheaders against No. 6 Auburn-Montgomery on Friday and Faulkner on Saturday.