PENSACOLA, Fla. – The Saint Leo softball team (5-5) earned a series spit with Gulf South Conference opponent Delta State University (2-2), Sunday morning from the University of West Florida Softball Complex in Pensacola. The Lady Statesmen posted a 4-2 game one win, before the Lions answered with a 3-2, come-from-behind victory in game two.
The win gave Saint Leo a series split with Delta. It also gave the Lions a 3-3 record for the GSC/SSC Crossover Regional.
Elysha Agen stepped up offensively for the Green & Gold as she went 4-for-6 with an RBI. She collected her first home run of the season and scored twice. Brittany Yates and Sarah Boyd each posted a pair of 3-for-7 performances, including Yates’ second home run of the season. Jaime Walker was perfect at the plate as she went 2-for-2, while Amber Martyn also registered a pair of hits. Kasey Postupack rounded-out the group going 1-for-3 with a run scored.
In total, the Lions registered 15 hits, but 12 runners left on base, in addition to three errors, saw Saint Leo miss a chance at earning a series sweep.
In game one, both the Lions and Lady Statesmen exchanged zeros on the scoreboard until the fifth inning.
In the fifth, Delta’s Christine Hunter led the inning off with a double down the leftfield line. She soon broke the scoreless affair when she came around to score on Christa Richard’s RBI double. The big blow, however, came off the bat of Taylor Hughes when she took the first pitch of her bat and sent it over the left field fence for a two-run home run.
The 3-0 advantage did not stand for long as Saint Leo answered the challenge with a pair of runs in the bottom of the sixth inning. Postupack ignited the two-run outburst with a single up the middle and advanced to second on Agen’s base hit. Two batters later, Yates connected on an RBI double scoring Postupack, while Boyd followed with an RBI single to cut the deficit to one, 3-2.
Unfortunately, that was as close as Saint Leo came. Delta State added a fourth run on a pair of Saint Leo fielding miscues in the seventh inning to secure the 4-2 win.
Megan Still was the tough-luck loser in game one as she surrendered three unearned runs and six hits over seven innings.
Game two was another low scoring affair, but this time Saint Leo found themselves as the one-run victors.
It didn’t take long for the Lions to jump out on the scoreboard first as Agen deposited the first pitch of the game over the centerfield fence for a leadoff home run.
A Delta RBI single highlighted the Fighting Okra’s two-run second inning as they took a 2-1 lead.
The game remained 2-1 until the fifth when the Lions mounted a charge to retake the lead. After Agen roped a one out single, Yates blasted a towering two-run home run over the centerfield fence to give the Lions a 3-2 lead.
It was all the Lions would need as the combined pitching of Aston Whidden and Still preserved the victory.
Whidden threw six strong innings for the Lions, scattering six hits while not surrendering an earned run. It was Whidden’s first win of 2011. In relief, Still registered the second save of the season, tossing one inning of scoreless ball.
The Lions will now prepare for a regional showdown with Palm Beach Atlantic on Saturday, February 19. First pitch is scheduled for 1:00 p.m. from the Palm Beach Atlantic campus.
Box Score: Game One
Box Score: Game Two
