JACKSON, Tenn. – After suffering a 2-1 setback that was decided in the final inning of the opener of their Gulf South Conference softball doubleheader Saturday, the Shorter Lady Hawks rallied to split the twinbill of the three-game series with Union University when they claimed a 5-2 win in the nightcap.
The Lady Hawks, now 10-3 overall and 5-3 in conference play, return to Union's home diamond – the game was moved from Rome to Jackson after snow blanketed Shorter's home ballpark at Alto Park – on Sunday for the series finale starting at 2 p.m.
In the opener, the Lady Hawks took the lead with their lone run in the fifth inning when
Niki Cook boarded with a two-out walk and came all the around to score on an RBI double by
Maggie Meacham.
Shorter held on to the narrow advantage until the bottom of the seventh when Union (9-7, 3-5) made the most of its final at-bat, tying the game on a run-scoring single by Reagan Schrader and earning the walk-off win when Alex Williams brought home the winning run with a double.
Cook led Shorter at the plate going 2-for-3 with a run scored, while pitcher
Maddie Bray suffered the loss.
In the second game, the Lady Hawks made the most of early opportunities scoring five unanswered runs over the first five innings.
Shorter took a 1-0 lead when Cook scored on a throwing error in the first inning, then added another in the third when Meacham singled, advanced to second on a fielder's choice, took third on a passed ball and scored on a sacrifice fly by
Kori Benson.
In the fifth, the Lady Hawks added some breathing room with a three-run outburst as Meacham led the inning off with a double and scored on a one-out single by Benson.
Paige Rowland kept the rally alive when she doubled to put runners in scoring position.
That set the stage for
Kameron Carter, who lofted a sacrifice fly to left to plate Benson and Rowland followed in her footsteps to score on a Union throwing error.
Union scored twice in the sixth and put the tying runs on board in the seventh but came away empty-handed.
Amanda Blanchard started the game for the Hawks going five innings giving up two runs on six hits while striking out nine to earn her fifth win of the season.
Meacham led Shorter at the plate 2-for-4 with two runs scored and a double, while Rowland added a pair of hits and Benson drove in two runs.