VALDOSTA, Ga. --- The Mississippi College softball team saw a couple of early leads erased in a doubleheader sweep at the hands of #9 Valdosta State on Saturday afternoon at Steel's Diamond.

The Lady Choctaws (3-7, 2-3 GSC) fell in the opener by a score of 3-1, while the Blazers (7-1, 5-0 GSC) came back to get an 8-5 win in the nightcap.

The teams will wrap up the three-game series on Sunday when they play the finale at 12:00 p.m. (CT).
 

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GAME ONE: #9 VALDOSTA STATE 3, MISSISSIPPI COLLEGE 1

HOW IT HAPPENED
  - Both teams were scoreless over the first two innings, but the Lady Choctaws broke through in the 3rd by taking advantage of a VSU error.
  - Paige Hulin singled and moved to second on a sacrifice bunt by Morgan Bradford before Rayne Minor reached on an error that brought Hulin home.
  - The Blazers responded in their half of the 3rd as Aniston Gano singled home a pair of runs with two outs to take a 2-1 lead.
  - They would add another run in the 5th on a solo home run by Nicole Pennington and that was it for the scoring in the opener.

KEY STATS
  - Avery Sanders (2-4) kept the Blazer hitters at bay with seven strikeouts over 6.0 innings, but seven walks came back to haunt the Lady Choctaws.
  - Samantha Richards (4-1), reigining GSC Pitcher of the Week, struck out nine and allowed just two hits with no walks and one unearned run.
  - McCall Lee joined Hulin as the only Lady Choctaws with a hit in the contest.
 

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GAME TWO: #9 VALDOSTA STATE 8, MISSISSIPPI COLLEGE

HOW IT HAPPENED
  - The second game was an offensive affair after a pitcher's duel in the first game with a combined 13 runs on just nine total hits.
  - Pennington homered in the 1st inning to give VSU an early lead, and they would add three more in the 2nd to jump out to a 3-0 advantage.
  - The Lady Choctaws opened up offensively in the 3rd, putting up five runs on two hits with one Blazer error.
  - Bradford and Minor both drew one-out walks ahead of an RBI single by Jordan LaFosse that scored both and made the score 4-2.
  - After Brooke Fagan drew a walk, Lee hit her first collegiate home run and gave the Lady Choctaws a 5-4 lead.
  - Morgan Hill tied the game up for VSU with a solo home run in the 4th.
  - The big blow, however, came in the 5th as Lacey Crandall took a two-out pitch over the center field wall for a three-run home run and made the score 8-5.

KEY STATS
  - The Lady Choctaws scored all five runs in the 3rd inning as LaFosse and Lee were joined by Hulin with hits in the contest.
  - Sanders (2-5) took the loss in relief, giving up the home run to Crandall in the 5th.
  - Shelby Carlson came in to pitch the 6th and got out of the inning by facing just three batters.
  - Avery Lamb (1-0) picked up the win for VSU in relief, allowing three hits and three earned runs over 3.0 innings.
  - Richards grabbed the save by getting the final five outs with two strikeouts.
 

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NEXT UP
  - The teams will wrap up the series on Sunday with a single game at noon (CT).
 

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Mississippi College is a private Christian university located in Clinton, Mississippi with an enrollment of over 5,000 students. MC recently finished their transition process back to NCAA Division II and the Gulf South Conference and began competing for conference and national championships in the 2016-17 academic year.
 
The athletic department sponsors 18 intercollegiate athletic programs: Baseball, Men's and Women's Basketball, Men's and Women's Cross Country, Football, Men's and Women's Golf, Men's and Women's Soccer, Softball, Men's and Women's Tennis, Men's and Women's Indoor Track & Field, Men's and Women's Outdoor Track & Field and Volleyball.
 
For more information on Mississippi College athletics, please contact David Nichols at 601-925-3234 or nichols@mc.edu.