Panthers sweep Huntingdon with come from behind wins
March 12, 2008

LaGrange came from behind in both games to sweep GSAC foe Huntingdon 4-3 and 11-5 on Wednesday at the LaGrange College Softball Complex. The wins upped the Panthers' record to 5-3, while the Lady Hawks slipped to 3-11.

The games were non-counting in the conference standings. The two teams meet again March 21 in Montgomery, Ala. in a conference-counting doubleheader.

Amanda Daniel (5-3) picked up both wins for LaGrange. She pitched a complete first game and got the win in relief of Megan Henry in the second game. Daniel scattered nine hits, struck out four and did not walk a batter in the first game. She pitched four scoreless innings in the second game, allowing only one hit.

Huntingdon got all of its runs in the third inning of the first game. Shannon Rozof and Casey Chrietzberg had base hits in the inning. With two outs, Jessica Reeves homered over the center field fence to give the Lady Hawks a 3-0 lead.

LaGrange came back in its half of the third inning. The Panthers' three hits in the game all came in the inning. Holly Hazelwood reached on an infield single with one out. Valeree Williams followed with a base hit to left. Katie Hein drove in both Hazelwood and Williams with a double to left field to make it 3-2.

The Panthers took the lead in the fifth inning without benefit of a hit. They were helped by two costly Lady Hawk errors in the inning that led to two runs. Allison Gordon started the inning with a walk and Erica Robinson reached on an error. Gordon later scored the tying run as Williams reached on a fielder's choice. Williams came around to score the go-ahead run as Hein reached on another error.

Daniel made the 4-3 lead stand up, blanking Huntingdon over the last four innings. The Lady Hawks put runners on second and third with two outs in the seventh inning. But Daniel got Chrietzberg to foul out to left to end the game.

Henry was making her first start of the season. The Lady Hawks got a run in the first inning and four more runs in the second to go up 5-0. Henry pitched the first three innings, allowing nine hits and striking out three.

The Panthers, who had scored only 10 runs in their previous five games, exploded for 11 unanswered runs. The Panthers came back with six runs in the third inning to take the lead. Williams drove in the first run with a double. Robinson drove in Jennifer Knight, who had doubled earlier in the inning, to make it 5-4. Two costly errors by the Lady Hawks allowed Gordon and Robinson to score the tying and go-ahead runs.

LaGrange increased its lead to 10-5 with four runs in the fourth inning. All of the runs came with two outs. Kristi Underwood started the rally with a single through the left side. It was the first of five straight hits. Gordon had an RBI single, followed by run-scoring doubles by Robinson and Emily Foster.

The Panthers closed out the scoring in the fifth inning. Hazelwood led off the inning with an infield hit. She stole second and moved over to third on a ground out. Underwood drove in Hazelwood with a two-out hit to left field to make it 11-5.

The Panthers finished with a season-high 16 hits in the game. Gordon and Robinson each had three hits to lead the way. Williams, Underwood, Knight and Hazelwood all had two hits.

The Panthers travel to Ridgeland, Miss. for the Millsaps College Invitational this weekend. The Panthers begin tournament play against Austin and Centre on Friday, followed by Louisiana College and Mississippi College on Saturday. Louisiana is ranked 13th nationally. The Panthers close the tournament Sunday against Colorado College and Trinity of Texas.