Box Score
COLUMBUS, Ga. – The Belhaven softball team came out of their first SSAC tournament game with a 2-0 victory over Brewton-Parker on Thursday afternoon. Belhaven scored two runs in the bottom of the third, as Jessica Paris took a no-hitter into the seventh in a wacky first-round game.
 
The Blazers did not know what to expect from the Lady Barons of Brewton-Parker in their first meet up of the season. Scouting reports this time of year can be faulty at best, especially with teams that have not played each other during the regular season.
 
Brewton-Parker (25-21) and Belhaven did not find themselves as regular-season opponents when the SSAC schedule came out last fall—which made their matchup all the more exciting for Thursday's tournament kick-off.
 
Belhaven trotted out Paris to face the Barons ace, Myia Ashmore, in what became one of the best pitching duels thus far in the 2013 tournament.
 
Paris began the game with three quick innings—striking out four batters in the early stanzas—and at one time retired seven batters in a row.
 
Meanwhile, Ashmore stymied the Blazers' bats for a majority of the game. She made quick work of Belhaven in the first two innings with an up-tempo throwing style that kept the Blazers uncomfortable at the plate.
 
With the bottom of the lineup coming up for the Blazers (33-10) in the bottom of the third, they looked to put a few hits together against Ashmore and get on the scoreboard. They were able to put some runs up in the inning, but how they did so was anything but conventional.
 
Lizzy Hess led off the inning for the Blazers and she reached first base on an error by the first baseman Courtni Fritts. Lauren Clinton fielded Hess' ground ball to third base cleanly and launched a throw to the glove of Fritts, but the Lady Baron's first baseman could not field it cleanly—allowing Hess to reach safely.
 
Shelby Watson walked to put runners on second and third with no outs. Jordan Cole lined out to left field to bring up SSAC West Player of the Year Denee' Crawford with runners in scoring position. Crawford launched a 3-2 pitch into a swirling wind in right-center field, leaving Ashley Garnto with a tough play deep in the outfield.
 
Garnto camped under the fly, but the wind changed the projection of the ball at the last moment and it slammed off of her glove onto the turf for an error.
 
Courtney Fairley came to the plate with the bases loaded—thanks in part to two errors by the Lady Barons—with a chance to put up the first run of the game. The first pitch in Fairley's at-bat found the dirt and trickled back to the backstop—easily allowing Hess to score from third base.
 
Now 1-0 in Belhaven's favor, Fairley struck out, but a dropped third strike allowed Watson to score from third on the throw to make it 2-0 for the Blazers. Ashmore was able to get out of the inning without any further damage, but Belhaven held a two-run lead despite not earning a hit off of the Brewton-Parker starter.
 
Brewton-Parker threatened to score for the first time in the top of the fourth when Paris temporarily lost her control. She ushered out three walks in the inning to load the bases with two outs, but a timely groundout to third base got Paris out of the jam.
 
Freshman first baseman Haley Yasses poked the first hit of the game for either team in the bottom of the fourth, but Belhaven was unable to advance her past first base.
 
Paris took a no-hitter into top of seventh as the Blazers clung to the 2-0 lead. She got a pop-up to begin the inning, but pinch-hitter Chelsey Peterson blooped a ball over the head of Fairley for the Lady Barons' first hit.
 
The Lady Barons' Lindsay McKeone grounded into a controversial fielder's choice to record the second out of the inning. Peterson slid into second base and appeared to be safe on a dropped ball by Fairley, but she was called out.
 
Paris was able to strikeout Lauren Simerly in a fitting way to end the game and lock up her 13^th win of the season.
 
Belhaven only had two hits in the game and neither of them led to runs.
 
The Blazers will play the No. 1 seed from the SSAC East, who defeated William Carey 10-2 in five innings this evening. That game will begin at noon on the east coast in the first game of the winner's bracket.