ROME -- The Lady Hawks split the Gulf South Conference opening doubleheader Saturday afternoon with No. 2 Valdosta State; dropping the first game 3-1, and winning the second, 7-2.

The Blazers tallied one run in each of the third, fourth, and fifth innings in the opener to take a 3-0 lead. Shorter's only run came in the fifth inning as Maggie Meacham singled to plate Tori Etheridge to break the shut out. The Lady Hawks were held to four hits in the game, and were struck out 12 times.

In the finale, however, Shorter's bats came alive as they pounded out 10 hits – the most given up by Valdosta State (10-2, 1-1 GSC) this season.

The Lady Hawks got things going in the third inning as four runs scored. Kendall Johnson led the way with a solo homerun, and was followed by RBI singles from Ericka Bynum, Kameron Carter, and Paige Rowland to give Shorter (6-1, 1-1 GSC) the 4-0 lead.

Jaime Phillips homered in the sixth for the Blazers to cut the lead to 4-1, but the Lady Hawks answered in the bottom of the inning with three runs to put the game away. Etheridge singled to open the inning and came in to score on a single from Cook. On batter later, Meacham delivered a 2-run homer to make it a 7-1 game.

In the seventh, Courtney Albritton homered for the 7-2 final score.

Amanda Blanchard turned in a complete game gem for the win in game two; allowing just one hit other than the two homeruns, while striking out 10 – the most Blazers to be struck out in a game this year.

Shorter will look to keep the momentum going Sunday as they go for the series win over No. 2 Valdosta State. Game time is set for 1:00pm.