Panthers sweep Spelman to snap four-game skid
April 9, 2008

LaGrange stopped a four-game losing streak with a sweep of Spelman in a GSAC doubleheader at the LaGrange College Softball Complex on Wednesday. The Panthers took both games by scores of 9-1 to improve to 6-2 in GSAC play and 14-12 overall. Spelman dropped to 4-8 overall and 2-2 in conference play.

Valeree Williams went 5-for-6 in the two games to lead the Panther hitting. She had two doubles, scored two runs and drove in two more runs. Holly Hazelwood, Erica Robinson and Kristi Underwood all had three hits in the two games. The Panthers finished with 25 hits in the doubleheader.

Amanda Daniel (9-9) pitched 4-1/3 innings to get the win in the first game. Daniel allowed a run, four hits, did not walk a batter and struck out four. Megan Henry (4-2) pitched a total of 3-2/3 scoreless innings to pick up the win in the second game. Henry did not allow a hit, walked one and struck out two. Danielle LaDuron pitched in relief in both games. She pitched two innings, allowed a run on four hits, walked three and struck out one.

Spelman got a run in the first inning off Daniel in the first game to take a 1-0 lead. The Panthers tied the game in the bottom of the inning. Hazelwood reached on a bunt single with one out. She later scored on a throwing error on Williams' base hit to right center.

The Panthers added to their lead in the second inning with two runs and three more in the third. Kayla Yeargin and Katie Hein had sacrifice flies in the second to make it 3-1. In the third, Allison Gordon and Yeargin had run-scoring singles sandwiched around Underwood's sacrifice fly to up the Panthers' lead to 6-1.

The Panthers closed out the game on the mercy rule in the fifth inning. Whitley James had an RBI single to make it 7-1. Hazelwood drove in a run with another bunt single. Leah Flowers scored off an error on the same play to end the game.

In the second game, the Panthers built a 6-0 lead after three innings. The Panthers got three runs in the first with two outs. Williams doubled and scored on Erica Robinson's base hit. Underwood followed with a two-run single to left to make it 3-0.

Hazelwood beat out an infield hit in the second with Hein coming all the way around from second to score for a 4-0 lead. The Panthers added two more runs in the third. Haleigh Kellar drove in a run with a base hit through the left side. Underwood later scored on a passed ball to make it 6-0.

The Panthers closed out the game in the bottom of the fifth inning. James drove in the first run of the inning with a single to right field. Williams ended the game with a two-run double to left center for the 9-1 final score.

The Panthers are on the road Thursday at Piedmont and again Saturday at Maryville in a pair of GSAC doubleheaders.