Panthers celebrate Senior Night with sweep of Wesleyan
March 29, 2007

The LaGrange College softball team celebrated Senior Night on Thursday with a sweep of Wesleyan College at the LC Softball Complex. The Panthers took the first game 4-3 in eight innings and completed the sweep with a 4-2 win in the second game. Seniors Hayley Hanson, Dicie Holland, Kellee Scandrett, Dawn Smith and Kim Woodard were honored between games.

The Panthers (18-10) had to come from behind in both games. The Pioneers (7-12) had 2-0 leads in both games but could not hold on.

Wesleyan broke up a scoreless first game with two runs off Hanson in the fifth inning. Samantha Loth singled with one out and Ashley Nelson kept the inning going with a two-out single. Janna Brown followed with a double to right field, scoring Loth and Nelson to put the Pioneers up 2-0.

The Panthers got a run back in the sixth inning with a two-out rally. Kristi Underwood started the rally with a double to left center. Valeree Williams followed with a double to left, scoring pinch-runner Kelly Lewis with the Panthers' first run.

The Panthers forced extra innings with a run in the seventh inning. Scandrett tripled to lead off the inning. Amanda Jones hit a chopper into left field to score Scandrett with the tying run.

Wesleyan retook the lead in the top of the eighth inning. Nelson came around to score from second on an errant pick off throw to put the Pioneers up 3-2.

The Panthers answered with two runs of their own to take the win in the bottom of the inning. With Smith on second, Woodard reached on a sacrifice bunt attempt when the throw got away at first. Smith came around to score on the play to tie the game. Chloe Turnipseed moved Woodard over to third with a sacrifice bunt. Williams ended the game with a solid single to left as Woodard scored for the 4-3 final.

Megan Henry (8-4) got the win with three innings of relief work. She allowed an unearned run and two hits. Hanson allowed two runs in five innings, struck out six and walked only one.

In the second game, the Pioneers strung together four hits off starter Amanda Daniel to take a 2-0 lead in the second inning. The Pioneers were helped by a Panther error in the inning.

The Panthers did all of their scoring in the fourth inning. Williams led off the inning with an infield single. Holland moved Williams over to third with a base hit. Williams scored on a wild pitch for the first run of the inning. With the bases loaded, Holly Hazelwood reached on an error as Holland scored the tying run. Woodard and Turnipseed drew back-to-back walks with the bases loaded to force in two more runs for a 4-2 lead.

Daniel allowed only one hit after the second inning. She finished the game with eight strikeouts and one walk.
The Panthers start a seven-game Spring Break trip to Texas on Saturday against the University of Texas at Tyler.