UWA softball sweeps Stillman in home opener
Published 9:19 am Friday, February 21, 2014
West Alabama opened its home season with a doubleheader sweep over Stillman at the UWA Softball Complex on Thursday. The UWA Tigers won game one 10-4 and game two 13-4.
UWA extends its win streak to four to improve 9-6 overall. Stillman drops to a five game losing skid to fall to 1-9.
“It’s nice to get those first home wins under your belt,” said UWA head coach Will Atkinson.
“It wasn’t pretty, but winning is winning. We need to clean up our defense a little. Our pitchers pitched real well, but we had some unfortunate errors. I was proud of how we hit the ball today. We didn’t get too anxious and put some good swings on the ball.”
Stillman took the first lead of the day by scoring two runs on an UWA error in the top of the first inning of game one. West Alabama responded in the bottom of the inning with two runs of its own.
Whitney Brown batted in three runs on a double and later stole home in the bottom of the fifth inning with the score tied at 4-4 to give UWA an 8-4 lead. Three Stillman errors added two more runs in the bottom of the sixth.
Brown finished 2-for-5. Lydia North led with three runs and went 1-for-2 at the plate. The Tigers left 12 runners on base.
Skylar Davis (2-1) entered in the fifth inning, not allowing a hit through three innings and striking out three batters to pick up the win. Ashley Savage (1-5) pitched through six and gave up eight earned runs.
In game two, the Tigers scored six runs in the bottom of the second and fourth innings. Anna Shartzer led the way with three runs, while Jordyn Whiddon, Miriah Chavez and Scarlett Wright each had two.
Rebecca Schick posted three RBI and two doubles, while finishing 2-for-2 at the plate. Shartzer and Brown each tallied two RBI.
Sarah Ray-Averett (6-1) took the win in the circle, allowing only one hit and striking out four. Hannah Burr (0-2) gave up 10 earned runs and 10 hits to get the loss.
West Alabama remains at home to take on Gulf South Conference opponent West Georgia in a three game series starting with a doubleheader on Saturday. First pitch is set for 2 p.m. at the UWA Softball Complex.