Game 1 Box Game 2 Box
JACKSON, Miss. –The Belhaven softball team concluded their 2013 regular season with a split at home against Mobile. Belhaven needed to earn at least a split against the Rams to win a share of the SSAC West crown, which they did by winning game two 2-1 after losing the first game 4-3.
Late-inning rallies have been the story all season long for the Blazers. So much so that Belhaven head coach Kevin Griffin has given his team a new nickname.
“The Cardiac Kids,” he says with a joking tone, “because they like to make things interesting before winning in the end.”
The Blazers have had their fair share of comeback wins this season, including two pivotal victories on Friday afternoon against Spring Hill. However, in a cruel twist of fate, Mobile beat the Blazers at their own game in the first of two contests on Saturday.
Belhaven (32-10) scored the first run of the game in the third inning off of a Shelby Watson one-run jack over the left field wall. Mobile (27-17) would tie the game only a half-inning later on a first-pitch home run by Jordan Coleman off of Belhaven starter Jessica Paris.
Paris kept the Rams' offense at bay for much of six innings, while the Blazers' offense piled up a two-run lead in the bottom of the fourth.
With two outs in the inning Katie Adair and Ashlee Hitt both singled. Hitt's single up the middle of the diamond scored Adair from second base. A throwing error by the Rams' catcher prolonged the inning and Watson made Mobile pay with her second RBI of the game—an infield single to the gap between third and short.
Belhaven took a 3-1 lead into the sixth when Paris surrendered her second run of the game. She quickly got two outs, but the Rams strung together a couple of hits before a run scored on a wild pitch.
Ginger Lonergan came in relief for the Blazers to get the final out of the sixth inning, but Mobile found a way to strike against her in the top of the seventh. Two long singles scored the tying run and Korie Fontenot picked up the third hit of the inning to give the Rams their first lead of the game at 4-3.
The Blazers in their truest form would make things interesting in the bottom of the seventh. Denee' Crawford doubled to the right field wall and Courtney Fairley singled to shallow left field. The Rams' outfield was cheating up on the play, so Crawford was not allowed to make the long turn around third toward home.
With one out in the inning and the winning run on second, Brittni Trawick and Adair each hit hard ground balls, but failed to drive in the run from third. Fantastic defensive plays by Kamaron Strickland and Jordan Coleman preserved the win for the Rams.
Game two wrote a similar script to many of the Blazers games this season.
The Rams got on the board early by playing small ball in the top of the first inning. They used a leadoff single and an error to get their first two batters on base before another single scored the run from second base to take a 1-0 lead.
Mobile starter Alli Hall would take a no-hitter into the the sixth without any signs of slowing down. Adair—the starter for the Blazers—would settle down after a rough first inning to keep the Blazers in the tight deficit.
Crawford led off the bottom of the sixth and sparked the Blazers attack as she has done for much of the 2013 season. On a 1-1 pitch, Crawford hit her third home run of the weekend to break the stalemate and tie the game at one run apiece.
Adair rolled through the seventh inning to set up another scintillating walk-off situation for the Blazers.
Taylor Bryan led off the inning with a clutch single. Paris pinch-ran for Bryan and advanced to second quickly following a wild pitch by Hall. Watson walked and Jordan Cole was hit by a pitch to load with bases with only one out in the inning.
Crawford stepped to the plate once again with only one out and the bases juiced. She battled to a full count before turning on a pitch and sending it sky high to right field. Paris was tagging all the way from third base and scored easily to give the Blazers their second seventh-inning win of the weekend.
The two RBI's gave Crawford 50 on the season.
With a split the Blazers finished in a tie with the Warhawks of Auburn-Montgomery atop the SSAC West, but AUM's better overall winning percentage gave them the No. 1 seed in the division. As the No. 2 seed in the West, Belhaven will be matched up with Brewton-Parker in the first round of the SSAC Tournament.
Belhaven and Brewton-Parker will meet for the first time in 2013 at 2 p.m. ET on Thursday afternoon in Columbus, Georgia.
