The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
UAB
Georgia State
UAB Softball Team Sweeps Georgia State In Doubleheader
3/18/2005 12:00:00 AM | Softball
March 18, 2005
Game 1 Box Score | Game 2 Box Score
ATLANTA - The UAB softball team swept a doubleheader from the Georgia State Lady Panthers on Friday at Bob Heck Field as the Blazers won by a score of 7-4 in nine innings in game one and then took the nightcap, 5-2.
The Blazers (14-19) swept their second doubleheader of the season and improved to 6-4 all-time against GSU, which includes four-straight wins in the series. Georgia State fell to 9-20 with its pair of losses on Friday.
The Blazers, who held a 2-0 lead entering the bottom half of the sixth inning, allowed a pair of runs which tied the game, but answered with four runs in the ninth to hold on for the 7-4 victory.
UAB starting pitcher Erica Mascarenas, seeing her first action since pitching four innings against Auburn on Feb. 27 in the Stanford Invitational, was very sharp on Friday. The right-hander at one point set down 16-straight batters after yielding a leadoff single to Mary Kathryn Branan in the bottom of the first.
Mascarenas lasted 6 1/3 innings and gave up two runs, both earned, on five hits. She struck out seven and did not walk a batter. Brittany Hodge relieved and earned her second win of the season to improve to 2-7 this season. The sophomore went 2 2/3 innings and allowed two unearned runs and four hits. Hodge walked three and struck out a pair. Elizabeth Hyman took the loss in game one to fall to 8-9. She gave up seven runs and 13 hits in nine innings of work. Hyman walked four and struck out 10 while throwing 183 pitches.
Chelsea McCall dumped a one-out single into shallow left-center field to score Lindsay Stanley in the top of the third inning for a 1-0 UAB lead. Leigh Walker hammered Hyman's 3-2 offering over the wall in left-center to extend the Blazers' lead to 2-0 with one out in the fourth. The home run was Walker's first of the season.
The Lady Panther bats came to life in the bottom half of the sixth as Georgia State tied the game at 2-2 by collecting three hits. Lauren Morlock and Branan, who had three hits in the game, had consecutive singles with one out off Mascarenas and after Jamie Cagle fouled out, Maria Melts delivered a two-out double to tie the game at 2-2.
The Blazers squandered a prime scoring opportunity in the top of the seventh as UAB loaded the bases with none out but failed to score. Georgia State then had the bases loaded with one out and also failed to push across a run in its half of the seventh to send the game to extra innings.
Each team tallied a run in the eighth inning before the Blazers exploded for four runs in the top of the ninth to take a 7-3 lead. UAB had five hits in the inning and benefited from two Lady Panther errors. UAB finished game one with a season-high 13 hits, two more than the previous high of 11 which came in a 7-6 win over Evansville on Feb. 5.
UAB took a 1-0 lead after three innings and added four insurance runs in the top of the fifth inning to cruise to a 5-2 win in game two. Stanley and McCall each had three hits and Sara Christophel had a pair of hits and two RBI. The Blazers had 12 hits in game two and finished with 25 in the two games.
Freshman Jennifer Nelson had one of her strongest outings of the season as she went the distance and allowed just two runs, one earned, on five hits. Nelson walked two and struck out eight. Meghan McCoy was the loser for Georgia State to fall to 1-9 this season. McCoy pitched seven innings and allowed five runs, all earned and 12 hits. She walked one and struck out 11.
The Blazers will next face the Mississippi State Bulldogs on Tuesday at 6 p.m. in Starkville, Miss., in a non-conference contest. UAB dropped an 8-3 decision to the Bulldogs on March 8 in Birmingham.
.png&width=84&height=84&quality=100&type=webp)
