ROME -- The Lady Hawks turned in the doubleheader sweep of West Alabama Friday afternoon; winning the opener 6-3 and the finale 6-1.

In game one, Ericka Bynum got things started for Shorter (24-9, 14-8 GSC) in the first inning, drawing a bases loaded walk to bring in Kendall Johnson. The Lady Hawks then added four runs in the fourth to extend the lead; with the bases loaded Maggie Meacham singled to bring Janell Echols and Abi Valdes to open the scoring. Johnson then followed with a sacrifice bunt to bring in Niki Cook, and Kameron Carter brought in Meacham on ground out to first base.

West Alabama (15-18, 7-15 GSC) got on the board in the fifth with two runs, cutting the lead to 5-2. But, Paige Rowland answered for the Shorter in the sixth, bringing in Meacham on a sacrifice fly to right field. The Tigers added a final run in the seventh for the 6-3 final score.

Maddie Bray earned the win; turning in five innings of work, while allowing two runs on four hits with three strikeouts and three walks. Kalei Kimbrell recorded her third save of the year; with a two inning performance, allowing one run on two hits with two strikeouts.

In game two, West Alabama scored first with a run in the first inning, but that was all the offense the Tigers would muster as the Lady Hawks held them scoreless for the remainder of the game.

Shorter answered in the bottom of the inning with three runs. Cook came in on an RBI double from Meacham, Johnson followed with a hit of her own, and then both scored on consecutive errors from West Alabama's corner infielders to take a 3-1 lead. In the sixth, Paige Rowland and Tori Etheridge added RBI singles to make it a 5-1 game, then Etheridge came in on passed ball for the 6-1 final score.

Amanda Blanchard earned the win, her thirteenth of the season, turning in a career high in strikeouts with 12. In a complete game performance, she allowed just the one run on seven hits with one walk.

Johnson led the Lady Hawks with five hits on the day, while Meacham chipped in with four, and both Cook and Rowland added three.

Shorter will go for the three game sweep tomorrow afternoon, in the final game of the series at 1:00pm at Alto Park.