HIGHLIGHTS•
Lydia Witkowski drove in the Eagles' first run of the season
•
Alesha Mann hit her first home run of the year
• Freshman
Hannah Farrell blasted a three-run home run for her first career hit
STARKVILLE, Miss. – The Georgia Southern softball team split a pair of games Friday at the Bulldog Kickoff Classic, falling 3-2 to Tennessee Tech before downing Alabama A&M 7-2 to pick up its first win of the season. The Eagles hit a pair of home runs and drew eight walks in the two games.
GAME 1 – TTU 3, GS 2Georgia Southern out-hit Tennessee Tech 5-3, but fell 3-2 to drop to 0-2 on the season. The Golden Eagles (1-0) jumped out to an early 2-0 lead in the first inning when a leadoff walk came around to score on a double by Sabrie Neeb and Neeb later scored on a sacrifice fly. TTU tacked on another run in the third inning when Bayli Cruse lined a home run to left-center field to make it 3-0, which would prove to be the difference.
The Eagles put together a rally in the fifth inning to get on the board.
India Davis reached on an infield single and moved up when
Taylor Rogers reached on an error. With two outs in the inning, Witkowski ripped a single to center to make it 3-1.
In the seventh inning,
Alesha Mann led off with an opposite-field home run to make it a 3-2 game. Georgia Southern got the tying run to second base, but two hard-hit balls found TTU outfielders to end the game.
Dixie Raley (L, 0-1) went the distance in her first collegiate start, allowing three runs on three hits with five walks and five strikeouts.
At the plate, Davis, Mann, Witkowski and
A.J. Hamilton each had a hit while
Emily Snider and
Morgan Robinson each drew a walk.
GAME 2 – GS 7, Alabama A&M 2The Eagles jumped on Alabama A&M (0-1) quickly in the second game of the day, scoring five runs in the first inning.
Taylor Rogers led off with a walk and then Witkowski reached on a bunt. After a sacrifice bunt from
Emily Snider,
Morgan Robinson drove in both runners with a double to the gap. After
Rowan McGuire drew a walk, Farrell connected for a three-run home run to left field – her first collegiate hit – to make it 5-0.
The Bulldogs battled back with a pair of runs in the second inning, but GS tacked on an unearned run in the top of the third inning to stretch its lead back out.
In the sixth inning, Davis dropped down a bunt for her second hit of the game and eventually scored on
Emily Snider's stand-up triple to the gap to make it 7-2.
The Eagles recorded a season-high eight hits, led by two apiece from Davis and McGuire. Also picking up hits were Witkowski, Snider, Robinson and Farrell, who had three RBIs and also drew a walk. Robinson drove in two runs. The Eagles drew six walks as a team.
Kierra Camp (W, 1-1) went the distance, allowing two runs on a pair of hits with three walks and a strikeout.
The Eagles will wrap up play at the Bulldog Kickoff Classic on Saturday with a pair of games. GS will take on Tennessee Tech at 10 a.m. (ET) and then finish with Houston at 12:30 p.m. (ET).
SMITH SAYS:"I thought we did a really good job in the first inning of that second game in terms of putting pressure on their defense and making them make plays. We got those five runs early but I thought we slowed down a little late. I would have liked us to score a few more to make things a little easier on us. But I thought we competed all day today and I saw us start to make some adjustments and do some nice things. It was nice to get that first win of the season and take some momentum into tomorrow. I was pleased with both pitchers today and defensively, we settled down a lot from yesterday. I see a lot of good things for this team in the future."
